52d Congress, ) SENATE. c Mis. Doc. 

1st Session, j \ No. 222. 



IN THE SENATE OF TIIE ^NITED STATES. S^n^^i0£^' 



MEMORIAL 



IN RKGAKD TO A 



NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, 






August 3, 1892.— Eeforred to the Select Committee to Establish the 
University of the United States and ordered to be printed. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1892. 



n + 







/ 



7d 



?j 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Action of the Sknate of the United States 11 

Memokial letter to the Senate 13 

Intkoduction 15 

A. great and true university the leading want of American education. 
The hindrances having mostly disappeared its realization should now 
he possible. 

I. The offices of a tkue university 17 

To provide post-graduate instruction in all departments of learning. 

To represent at all times the sum of human knowledge. 

To lead in the development of new professions. 

To lead the world in original research and investigation. 

To constitute an impregnable bulwark of truth and freedom. 

II. Reasons why the National Government should found such a uni- 

versity 19 

The nation only is equal to its proper endowment. 

The nation bound to complete its proudly styled American system of 

education by supplying the need it lacks. 
Only a national university could reasonaldy hope — 
H^. To coiirdinate and thus directly strengthen and elevate the schools 

of the States. 
To be wholly free from sectarian bias, 
^o promote in requisite degree the growth of patriotism in all sections. 
To secure to our country due rank and influence among the great 

, .vers. 
T( ecome an effective means of promoting the growth of free institu- 

L.ons. 
To meet the demands of learning upon this most powerful and pros- 
perous of the nations. 

III. Eeasons for founding such university at Washington 22 

WasLihgton the only suitable spot under Federal jurisdiction. 

The place designated by the Father of his Country, who began its 

endowment. 
The most desirable of places for the residence of advanced students. 
The most democratic of cities in its social life. 
Most directly in touch with all portions of the country and all quarters 

of the globe. 
Most in need of the influence of a national university upon the civil 

service. 
Unparalleled for its aggregation of material facilities. 
Has already a great constellation of scientists doing original work. 
Could thus be made what it ought to be, the intellectual center of the 

world. 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

Page. 

IV. Historic summary of the support hitherto accorded the univer- 

sity PROPOSITION 27 

By members of the constitutional convention. 

By Washington and other Presidents of the United States. 

By Commissioners of the District of Columbia. 

By the National Educational Association and its committees. 

By patriotic and philanthropic organizations. 

By public journals and a multitude of eminent citizens. 

Why so much effort without more of visible result. 

V. Eeasons for a renewal of effort AT the present time 114 

The need not only remains, but increases with the growth of the na- 
tion. 

Appreciation of the need fast becoming a positive demand. 

No other great educational measure now in the way. 

Obligation of the Government increased by failure of the general edu- 
cation bill. 

Present equal division of powers and responsibilities in Congress. 

Present condition of the country favorable. 

The present earnest efforts of two powerful churches for a true univer- 
sity but a reenforcement of the argument for a National University. 

Men of vast fortunes and honorable ambitions, whose princely gifts 
should be added to the Government endowment, however great, now 
in the spirit of contributing to education. 

The coming great anniversaries now offer a challenge the Nation can 
not honorably decline. 

The greater demands and possible glories of the dawning century in 
themselves an appeal that should be irresistible. 

VI. The demand of the present 118 

That the Government of the United States establish and so endow a 
national university that, with the means and forces already avail- 
able, it may early become the leading university of the world. 

VII. The conditions of success 120 

Such attention to the subject on the part of our statesmen in Con- 
gress as its high importance demands. 

Such support from without as the enlightened sentiment of the coun- 
try should gladly accord to a measure whose success is so clearly 
a condition of the highest dignity and welfare of the Kepublic. 

VIII. Conclusion 123 



INDEX TO HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 



[The brackets indicate committal to institutions, national in scope, but not to a National University 
established by tiie Government at Washington.] 



Adams, President C. K., Cornell University, addi-ess, 1888 85 

Adams, Dr. Herbert C, Johns Hopkins University, address, 1889 92 

Adams, John, President of the United States: 

In Constitntioual Convention 41 

luangnral address, 1797 41 

Adams, John Quincy, President of the United States, message, 1825 53 

Agassiz, Prof. Lonis, Harvard College 55, 68, 112 

[Alahamian, an, 1857J 62 

[Albany, University of] 54-58 

Allison, Senator W. B 68 

American Journal of Education, indorsement by, 1875 82 

[American University, the] 106-109 

Atherton, Hon. Charles H., resolution offered by, 1816 52 

Bache, Alexander Dallas, 1855 58, 112 

Baird, Spencer F 68 

Baker, S. S 64 

Barlow, John, Minister to France: 

Letters to President Jefferson 44 

Prospectus, etc., 1806 44 

Bill of, 1806 44 

[Bashford, Rev. Dr., President O. W. University, address, 1892] 108 

Bills to establish National University: 

Of Minister Barlow, offered by Mr. Logan, 1806 44 

Of House committee, 1816 51 

Of 0. W. Wight, introduced by Senator Howe, 1892 68 

Of University Committee of National Educational Association, 1872 67,68 

Of Senator Edmunds, 1890 102 

Introduced by Mr. O'Neil, 1890 104 

Blackmar, Prof. F. W., University of Kansas, report, 1890 101 

Blodget, Samuel : 

Fir.st suggestion of university by, 1775 27 

Memorials of, 1803, 1805 42. 43 

Contribution by, 1806 44 

Advocacy of, 1810 45 

Boardraan, Rev. Dr. George D., leaflet, 1889 98 

[Bronson, Hon. Greene C] 55 

[Brooks, Rev. Charles, 1855] 59 

Caldwell, Dr. Charles B., Transylvania University, 1828 53 

Carpenter, Senator Matthew Hale 68 

[Catholic University of America] 98-100 

5 



INDEX TO HISTOEICAL SUMMARY. 



Chase, William H 64 

Columbian Institute and College, appropriations for, 1823, 1832 52, 54 

Committees : 

Of House of Eepresentatives, reports by, 1810, 1816, 1873 48, 49, 68 

Of National Educational Association, reports by, 1870, 1871 65, 66 

Select, of U. S. Senate, creation of, 1890 102 

Continuances of, 1890-'91 105 

Of Pau-Eepublic Congress, 1891 „ 110 

Congress, memorials to: 

Of District Commissioners, 1796 39 

Of Samuel Blodget, 1803, 1805 42,43 

Appropriations by, to Columbian College and Institute, 1823, 1832 54 

Connelly, Thomas G 64 

Constitutional Convention, discussions in 27 

Cox, Dr. C. C 64 

Crauch, Judge William 52 

Culloin, Senator Shelby B., 1890 105 

Custis, George Washington 46 

Cutbush, Edward 52 

[Dana, Prof. James] ; 55 

Davidson, James 46 

[Dean, Amos] 55 

District Commissioners, memorial of, to Congress, 1796 39 

Eaton, Gen. John, address, Cleveland, 1870 66 

Edmunds, Senator George F. : 

Introduction of bill by, 1890 102 

Motion by, to continue select committee, with remarks, 1891 105 

Educational Association, National : 

Eesolution by, with appointment of committees of,1869, 1874 64, 81 

Adoj)tion of committee's reports by, 1870, 1871 65, 66 

Creation of permanent National University Committee by, 1871 67 

Discussions before, 1873-74 70, 75 

Eesolution of, reaffirming original proposition, 1874 81 

Educators, eminent, mention of Ill 

[Edwards, Isaac] 56 

[Everett, Hon. Edward] 58 

[Fidelis, Eev. Father, address, 1889] 100 

[Fowler, Bishop Charles H., address, 1892] IO7 

Franklin, Benjamin, in Constitutional Convention 28 

Fuston, James M 64 

Gallatin, Albert, letter to Jefferson, 1806 47 

Garland, Senator James H 68 

[Gilmour, Et. B.ey. E., Catholic Bishop of Cleveland, 1889] 99 

Goode, Dr. G. Brown, Smithsonian Institution : 

Efforts of 102 

Paper by, Philadelphia, 1891 109 

[Goodly, Dr.] 56 

Gould, Prof. Benjamin Apthorp, oration, 1856 60 

Grant, Ulysses S., President of the United States, message, 1873 73 

Guyot, Prof. Arnold Henry 55 

Hail, Prof. James 55,56,112 

Hancock, Dr. John, speech Detroit, 1874 76 

[Harris, Judge Ira] .55 

Harris, Dr. W. T., U. S. Commissioner of Education, address, Detroit, 1874 76 

[Hastings, H. J.] 56 

Haupert, Albert, in Ohio Educational Monthly, 1889 91 



INDEX TO HISTOIMCAL SUMMARY. 7 

Page. 
H., G. G., in Science, 1886 85 

Hayes, Rutherford B., President of the United States, messages, 1877,78 82,83 

Hays, President George P., Washington and Jeflerson College, speech, Detroit, 

1874 71 

Henry, Dr. Joseph, Smithsonian Institution 56, 68, 112 

Hill, Hon. Mark L., introduction of rcsohition by, 1819 52 

Hinsdale, Prof. B. A., historical account, 1890 103 

Holley, President Horace, Transylvania University 53 

[Hough, Prof. George W.] 58 

House of Representatives: 

Address of, in response to President's message, 1790 31 

Reports by committees of, 1810, 1816, 1873 48, 50, 68 

Howe, Senator Timothy O. : 

Aid in preparation of bill 68, 73 

Introduction of bill by, 1872 68 

Hoyt, John W. : 

Government report of, 1867 63 

Addresses, Trenton, Detroit, Washington, 1869, 1874, 1891 63,80,111 

Publication of volume on University Education, 1870 64 

Draft of reports of National Committee, 1870, 1871 65, 66 

Draft of bill presented in 1872 67, 68 

Conferences at various places during 1875, 1876, 1884, 1885 82 

Offer of resolutions by, Pan-Republic Congress, 1891 110 

Leaflet, with correspondence, 1891 • Ill 

Human Freedom League, resolution by, 1891 109 

[Hurst, Bishop John F., Chancellor American University] 106 

IngaUs, Senator John J 68 

Jackson, xVndrew, President of the United States, a])proval of bill by, 1832... 54 
Jefferson, Thomas, President of the United States : 

Letters to Washington and Gallatin, 1795, 1808 33, 47 

Message, 1806 47 

Johnson, Hon. Samuel, in Constitutional Convention 28 

Journal of Education, indorsement by, 1881 83 

Kennedy, Rev. Dr 56 

Lamar, Secretary L. Q. C, report, 1885 83 

Law, Thomas 52 

Logan, Hon. Mr., introduction of bill by, 1806 44 

MacArthur, Judge Arthur, chancellor of National University 64 

Madison, James, President of the United States : 

In Constitutional Convention 27 

As indorser of memorial, 1796 40 

As chairman of committee of House of Representatives, 1796 41 

Messages, 1810, 1815, 1816 48,49 

Mason, Dr. Otis T., letter and lecture, 1889, '90 . . ' 93 

Mayo, Rev, Dr. A. D 84 

[McCabe, Rev. Dr. Charles, address, 1892.] 108 

McCosh, President James, Princeton College, Detroit, 1869 71 

Mc Williams, Dr. Alexander 52 

Meigs, Dr. Josiah 52 

Memorials to Congress : 

Of District Commissioners, 1796 39 

Of Samuel Blodget, 1803, 1805 42,43 

Mitchell, Prof. O. M 55,56,58,112 

Mitchell, Hon. Samuel, as chairman of committee, 1810 48 

Monroe, James, President of the United States, letter of, 1820 52 



8 INDEX TO HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 

Page. 

[Moore, Rev. Dr. David H., address, 1892] . , 108 

Morris, Gouverneur, in Constitutional Convention 28 

Mowry, Superintendent William A., address, Nashville, 1889 97 

Museum, American, indorsement by, 1789 30 

Nation, The, indorsement by, 1889 1 101 

National University Association, steps toward formation of 112 

National University Committee of educational association : 

Reports of, 1870, 1871 65, 66 

Preparation of bill by, 1872 67 

[Newman^ Bishop John P., address, 1892] 106 

New York Times, approval by, 1890 102 

Norton, Prof. John F 55 

[Olcott, Thomas W.] 55 

O'Neill, Hon. Mr., introduction of bill by, 1890 104 

Pan-Republic Congress, resolutions by and committee of. 1891 110 

[Parker, Araasa J.] 55 

Patterson, Senator J. W 68 

[Payne, Rev. Dr., address, 1892] 107 

Peirce, Prof. Benjamin 55, 59, 112 

Perce, Hon. Legrand W., report as chairman, 1873 68 

[Phelps, William F.] 56 

Pickering, Hon. Charles C.,in Constitutional Convention 27 

Potter, Bishop Alonzo 56 

Press, suppott by, during Revolutionary times 29, 30 

[Raymond, Henry J.] 55 

Read, President Daniel, University of Missouri 72 

Reports : 

To House of Representatives, 1810, 1816, 1873 48, 49, 68 

To National Educational Association, 1870, 1871 65, 66 

Resolutions : 

Of the legislature of Virginia, 1795 36 

To amend the Constitution, offer of, 1816 50 

Of the House and Senate, appointing committees of inquiry, 1819, 1825. .. 52, 53 

Of the National Educational Association, 1869, 1874 64, 81 

Of the Pan-Republic Congress, 1891 110 

Richard, A. C 64 

Richards, Prof. Zalmon 64, 71 

Rickoff, Superintendent Andrew J., offer of resolution by, 1869 64 

Robbins, Senator, offer of resolution by, 1825 53 

Roberts, John L 64 

[Ruggles, Samuel B.] 57 

Rush, Dr. Benjamin, argument and appeals, 1787, 1788 28 

Rutledge, James, in constitutional convention 28 

Sawyer, Senator Frederick A 68 

Scholars and scientists, mention of 112 

Scott, Hon. Gustavus, commissioner, memorial to Congress, 1796. ..i 39 

Senate of the United States : 

Concurring response to President's message, 1790 31 

Approval of university proposition by, 1796 39 

References to select committee of, 1825, 1890 53, 102 

Creation of select committee by, 1890 103 

Continuances of select committee of, 1890, '91 105 

Sewall, Dr. Thomas 52 

Statesmen, eminent, mention of 112 

Sumner, Senator Charles 68 



INDEX TO HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 9 

Page. 

Superintendents of public instruction, indorsement by 112 

Thol)nrn, Bishop James M., address, 1892] 108 

Thornton, Hon. William, commissioner, memorial to Congress, 1796 39 

Van Ness, Col. John P 45 

[Van Vorst, Hooper C] 56 

Verdi, Dr. Tullio de Suzzara 64 

Virginia, resolutions by legislature of, in response to Washington, 1795 36 

Ward, Lester F. : 

In International Review, 1885 85 

Paper by, before American Association for Advancement of Science, 1891. 105 
Washington, George, President of the United States : 

Prophecy of, 1775, and remarks after war 27 

Messages, 1790, 1796 31,38 

Letters : 

To John Adams, 1794 31 

To Edmund Randolph, 1794 32 

To District Commissioners, 1795, 1796 32, 38 

To Thomas Jefferson, 1795 34 

To Governor Brooke, 1795 36 

To Alexander Hamilton, September 1 and 6, 1796 37, 38 

Farewell address, 1796 38 

Last will and testament, 1799 41 

Wedgewood, Dr. W. B. : 

Opening of National Law School, 1870 64 

Speech, Elmira, 1873 71 

Welling, President James C, Columbian University, paper, 1889 95 

White, Hon. Alexander, commissioner, memorial to Congress, 1796 39 

White, President Andrew D., present minister to Russia : 

Address, Detroit, 1874 75 

Papers by, in Forum, 1888-'89 88, 89, 91 

Wight, Dr. O. W., preparation of bill by, 1872 68 

Wilde, Hon. R. H., report as chairman, 1816 49, 51 

Wilson, Hon. James, in Constitutional Convention 28 

Wright, Senator G. W., speech, Elmira, 1873 70 



ACTION OF THE SENATE. 



SESSION OF AUGUST 3, 1892, 

Mr. Proctor. I present the memorial of Hon. Jolin W. Hoyt in regard to a Na- 
tional University, with an accompanying docnment, which is a very valuable his- 
torical statement on that subject. I move that it be printed and referred to the Se- 
lect Committee to Establish the University of the United States. 

The motion was agreed to. 

Mr. Sherman. I move that 5,000 extra copies of the docnment be printed for the 
use of the Senate, and that the motion be referred to the Committee on Printing. 

The Vice-President. Will the Senator from Ohio please repeat his statement? 
The Chair did not hear it. 

Mr. Sherman. The Senator from Vermont presented a memorial accompanied by 
a very valuable document in regard to the National University and moved that it be 
referred to the committee on tliat subject, of which I happen to be a member, and 
printed. I move that 5,000 extra cojdes may be printed for the use of the Senate. 
I do not know what it will cost to print that numl>er. I ask that the motion to 
print extra copies be referred to the Connnittee on Printing. 

The Vice-President. That order will be made in the absence of objection. 

SESSION OF AUGUST 5, 1892. 

Mr. Manderson, from the Committee on Printing, to whom was referred the fol- 
lowing resolution, reported it without amendment, and it was considered by unani- 
mous consent and agreed to : 

Ordered, That 5,000 additional copies of the memorial of John W. Hoyt in relation 
to the establishment of the University of the United States, with the accomi)auying 
paper, be printed for the use of the Senate. 

11 



MEMORIAL. 



Washington, D. C, August 3, 1892. 
To the Honorable the Senate of the United States: 

Responding to the request of the chairman of the Select Oommittee 
to Establish the University of the United States, for an account of what 
has been done hitherto in support of the proposition to found a national 
univ^ersity in this country, together with a statement of what is now 
deemed desirable in tliis behalf from the standpoint of such eminent 
citizens and national organizations as are committed to that enter- 
prise, I have the honor to submit the accompanying paper, and pray 
that the same may be printed in the usual number and referred to the 
aforesaid committee. 

Very resi)ectfully, 

John W. Hoyt. 

13 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 



The subject of a national university has received, much attention 
among thoughtful and patriotic citizens in all periods of our national 
history. 

Thus far, the main hindrances to the enterprise have been, less than 
a just appreciation of its importance by the masses of the people, coupled 
with the early prevalenceof provincial ideas and local jealousies, besides 
more or less doubt concerning the constitutional powers of the Govern- 
ment an<l a suju-eme devotion to the work of material development, on the 
one hand, and on the other a misapprehension of the relation that would 
be sustained by a central and truly national university to existing in- 
stitutions of the university class. 

The first of these embarrassments, though somewhat slow to disap- 
pear, is now rapidly i)assiug away. With the spread of educational 
facilities, the growth of institutions for the higher culture, the marvel- 
ous progress of science and learning, and the consequent increase of 
those discoveries, practical inventions, and literary achievements, 
which have greatly added to the pleasures, security, and dignity ot 
life, there has also come a new recognition of the high value of learn, 
iug; so that intelligent citizens everywhere now vie with each other in 
their efforts to promote its advancement. Even the uncultured have 
learned the tlieory of a necessary connection between science and prog- 
ress in the useful arts, and hence, for their own immediate good, as 
well as for the advantage of their children and for the general welfare, 
willingly bear a share of the light burden necessary to the ui)building 
and maintenance of the higher institutions. 

So, too, with the construction of numberless railways and the con- 
stant intermingling of the people of all sections, provincialism has died 
a natural death. Each community has learned not only to resi»ect 
every other, but to find pleasure in the prosperity of all as portions of 
a common country. 

Moreover, as a result of what has been done by the Federal Govern- 
ment for the safety, convenience, and progress of all, those larger views 
now prevail which have made us one people, more loyal than ever to the 
Constitution, yet wisely regarding it, as did the I'ramers themselves, an 
instrument formed with a view to national development and to high 
rank among the nations as well as to the preservation of our liberties. 

15 



16 A NATIONAL UNIVEKSITY. 

Finally, there is reason to believe tliat the hindrance last mentioned 
will yet more quickly vanish when it comes to be understood at 
the educational centers that the real purpose of the friends of the 
proposed university is not to build up a powerful rival to existing 
institutions, but rather, first, to supplement the instruction the college 
now gives in its graduate courses with the highest and fullest post- 
graduate teaching the world can furnish, and, secondly, to supply such 
facilities for original work under the guidance of master minds as are 
still so greatly needed, and as would enable it incidentally to supply 
all the collegiate institutions of the land with persons most competent 
to fill their chairs of instruction, in return for the multitude of bache- 
lors of arts, letters, science, and philosophy that would flock to the 
national standard. 

One can hardly conceive of a more powerful and effective agency than 
such an institution would be, whether for the uplifting of the schools 
of the whole country of every class and grade, for the advancement of 
science and learning in the world, or for giving to the United States a 
true intellectual supremacy among the nations of the earth. 

In view of all these facts and considerations the general question of 
establishing some such central university should now find an easy and 
ready solution. Hence this new revival of it, and this further appeal 
to the Congress of the United States, with a statement of what should 
be deemed requisite in this regard, of what has been attempted in that 
direction heretofore, and of what may reasonably be exxjected of both 
people and Government in the interest of science and learning, and as 
a crowning act of this first full century of the national life. 



I 

OFFICES OF A TRUE UNIVERSITY. 

Wliilo the term university has had so great a variety of applications 
tliat it is practically without deflniteness of meaning-, it is nevertheless 
manifest that it has a proper sigiiitication as well as application. Stat- 
ing these as simply as i^ossible by defining the offices which such an in- 
stitution may be expected to fulfil, it is hardly necessary to say, first 
of all, that it ranks above and beyond the academic and collegiate in- 
stitutions, those stepping stones by which it is conveniently reached, 
or that its applicants for admission should have completed the courses 
of instruction which those classes of schools offer, and have fully gained 
both the priceless discipline and the very moderate attainments in 
knowledge which they represent. 

Tlie studies therein mastered are snpposedto have simply fnrnished 
ji key with which, if intellectually capable and of resolntc puri)ose, 
they who have been certificated by them may enter those vastly broader 
and higher fields of science, art, and philosophy which themselves bor- 
der on infinity. 

As the common schools of this country, broadly viewed, represent 
what is elementary in the processes of development and acquisition, so 
the college properly stands for what is secondary, leaving all beyond as 
the realm of the true university. This is well understood by those who 
stand at the head of the multitude of so-called universities in America. 
They do not need to be told of the deficiencies they represent. They 
are simply willing to let their growing scliools for the present l)ear the 
high title of which they anxiously hope to make them some day Avortliy. 

Following the example of the German universities, several of our 
greater institutions have bravely thrown their forces across the line 
and are doing a large amount of the very best of university work; but 
the bulk of work still done in the majority of such as bear the univer- 
sity name is the work of the college — the preparation of youth for the 
degree of bachelor. 

The university proposed will open its doors for regular courses with 
graduation to such only as are at least bachelors already — eventually 
to multitudes of such as have been honored with even the doctor's 
degree, since it will be alile to furnish to each and to all the very 
ultimate of what has been achieved in every realm and dei)artment of 
learning. 

It will be not simply one more of the vast number of schools of aca- 
demic rank, but the crown and culmination of the now incomplete 
American system of education — a flowering of the magnificent growth 
we have been nursing through sunshine and storm these more than a 
hundred years. 

S. Mis. 222 2 17 



18 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

A second office of the university is that of forming a complete circle 
of schools of corresponding grade for each and all of the recognized pro- 
fessions — not schools limited, like those of the present, to that modicum 
of attainments which barely represents the bachelor's degree, but rather 
such as, beginning with the bachelor's grade, would meet the demands 
of students aspiring to the highest possible attainments in their respec- 
tive departments, and confer degrees in none of lower rank than those 
of master and doctor. 

Thirdly, a university of this high character, doing post-graduate 
work in its central departments and in all other fields now occupied in 
any efficient manner by existing institutions, could properly perform still 
another function, that of building new professions, as justified in so 
doing, on the basis of known facts and established i)rinciples, by open- 
ing proper courses of study therein; thus lifting the so-called occupa- 
tions and trades out of the domain of empiricism into the high realm of 
science. 

A fourth office of a true university is that of enlarging the field of 
human knowledge by means of the researches and investigations of its 
professors and fellows. Thus far this high function has been but 
partially performed anywhere. And yet how inconceivably great are 
the possibilities of an institution not only ever at the front in its mastery 
of all that is known, nor yet by its members of genius ever at work on 
new problems in every realm and department of the material, intellec- 
tual, and moral universe, and making new discoveries in aid of further 
progress, but also in a truly philosophic manner teaching its members 
the very art and science of investigation itself. 

In an important sense this last-named function of the university is to 
be its leading one; for an institution wholly, or even very seriously, 
deficient in this exalted role would in no proper sense be a university at 
all. With the utmost comiDleteness in all other respects there would still 
remain an aching void. An insatiable spirit of inquiry, an unquench- 
able ambition to advance the boundaries of human knowledge by new 
conquests in the infinite realm of the unknown, must pervade and will 
pervade an institution deserving the high title of university. It can 
instruct, elevate, coordinate, and originate effectively, only in propor- 
tion as it entitles itself to the confidence of the learned and scientific 
world by its sure command of all the heights and outposts, nay, in pro- 
portion as by its high courage, restless energy and skill, it adds to the 
sum total of human achievement. 

Finally, it is an important office of such a university to defend, as 
well as determine, the truth. Among its members there will always 
be moral heroes as superior to the menaces of power as to the insidious 
arts of the most skillful and corrupt devotees of false gods — men able 
to unmask error and bold to stand for the right at all hazards. The 
sacredness of truth, freedom of thought, and freedom of speech will be 
the inscrix)tion upon its portals. It will be not alight-house only, but 
also a bulwark of liberty and a watch-tower for the nation and the world. 



II. 

REASONS FOR FOUNDING A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

'First of all, the task of planting and eudowiug a true university is 
herculean, requiring an amount of means not hitherto furnished nor 
likely to be furnished without the help of the nation^ Great munifi- 
cence has been practiced here and there in recent years by noble-hearted 
Americans, whose gifts have far eclipsed the benefactions of all other 
countries and times ; but the endowments thus accorded, besides being 
insufficient, are ever liable to be in some manner restricted, so as more 
or less to embarrass the administration of them. Moreover, in the na- 
ture of the case they usually, if not invariably, somewhat limit or pre- 
vent subsequent benefactions to the same end by the very terms of the 
donation and the naming of the institution. 

On the other hand,r^e United States, richest, most powerful, and 
most progressive of all the nations, could easily confer such an endow- 
ment on an institution of its own founding as to make it very soon fore- 
most in all the world in point of resources and possibilities^ 

Nor is this all; the very giving to it the stamp of the nation, with 
means enough to insure its supremacy, so far from deterring any other 
giver, would operate as a i)owerful incentive to all persons of fortune 
desirous of promoting any kind of instruction or any line of investiga- 
tion by afibrding every assurance of security and permanency of the 
institution itself, by offering them the opportunity of connecting their 
benefactions and names enduringly with the most important, as well as 
most brilliant, cluster of schools on the earth, and by giving them to real- 
ize that high sense of dignity and honor which must attach to a perma- 
nent copartnership with the Government in an undertaking of the 
highest character possible to man or to nations of men. 
Secondly, that a national university of this sort would meet a vital 
want of American education, by supplying the head and culmination it 
lacks, is too manifest to require argumentj At present we have a series 
of schools in the States quite complete, beginning with the kindergarten 
and ending with the university. But there the work of building has 
rested even until now. Viewed in all its relations and obligations, the 
proudly-styled "American system" is a truncated pyramid. A national 
post-graduate university is therefore a logical necessity. Without it 
our youth must stop short of the full measure of learning and discipline 
to which they aspire, or seek for them wholly outside. Nor is this all; 
without the final, sux)reme institution the whole series lacks the immeas- 

19 



20 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

urable advantage that would come of a complete coordination of 
all grades from the lowest to the highest, so that each link in the series 
below would be controlled and lifted by the regulating power of the 
highest, exercised through the fixing of its own standards of admission ; 
this, to say nothing of the further incalculable gain of having such a 
supreme institution as a constant source of supply for teachers of the 
highest qualifications to be found in the world. 

'"But, thirdly, it is more than a logical necessity from the standiioint 
of a complete systematic scheme; it is also a patriotic necessit y.' ! It is 
only a national university that could in the most eminent degree cul- 
tivate, strengthen, and fortify that sentiment of patriotism on which the 
security and future glory of the American Eepublic must depend. It 
was this consideration, next to the interests of learning, that so weighed 
with Washington that he never forgot it in his eloquent appeals to his 
countrymen. 

The gathering of youthful persons of character and scholarship from 
every quarter of the country, for association on the high plane of the 
university for a i)eriod of years, would not only make them fellows 
socially and in things intellectual; it would also powerfully tend to 
strengthen the patriotism of each and all; first by an increase of their 
respect, admiration, and affection for a government at once wise and 
so beneficent, and, secondly, by the promotion of lasting friendships 
among a class of representatives of diverse sections of the country cer- 
tain to be among the most influential of their citizens, as well as poten- 
tial leaders of thought and sentiment in the country at large. Possibly 
the present greatness of our own country, with the marked progress 
of some of our foremost institutions, may have diminished the force of 
Washington's argument as to the influence of foreign associations in 
weakening the patriotism of our sons who were obliged to cross the 
ocean for the best facilities for study; but, on the other hand, that very 
greatness has become an unanswerable reason why America should now 
herself provide educational opportunities proportioned to her relative 
importance, her undeniable supremacy among the nations. 

The country will cordially welcome such contributions to this end as 
the churches, or any of them, are x)leased to make, but it is hardly con- 
ceivable that a great nation whose aspirations look to ascendancy not 
only in wealth and power but also in those noble achievements which 
are conditioned on preeminence of the higher culture, should so neg- 
lect its duty as to leave this vital interest to even the best attempts of 
competing religious organizations, or to voluntary agencies of any sort 
whatsoever. The duty of the nation to meet this demand on its own 
account, and to meet it most thoroughly, is a solemn duty. It may not 
be shirked, and should not be longer postponed. 

^^gain, it is only a university with a base as broad as the nation itself, 
aye, as broad as universal truth, that could hope to draw upon the sym- 
pathies and upon the moral as well as material resources of the whole 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 21 

American people^ A university founded on denominational preferences, 
or any other preferences, is by that very fact largely limited in its pat- 
ronage to tbe great family of faith to which it belongs. It can not win 
all alike by the banner it floats. I^or can sncli an institution, however 
pure and lofty its aims, free itself utterly, if it would, from preferring 
that all who come to it for any purpose should accept the particular 
faitli it represents. A national university need not be, and would not 
be, devoid of religious sentiment, since that is something which inheres 
in the individual soul, but it could liave no special shibboleth, no ban- 
ner but that of truth and virtue. To its halls all truth-seekers would 
be alike welcome. The great American nation owes the founding of 
an unbiased, independent, and truly national university to the sacred 
cause of imi)artial truth and justice. It must not force its sons and 
daughters of genius to enter less than the broadest as Avell as most 
exalted tenijde of learning that can be established with the heli) of un- 
stinted resources and the highest available wisdom. 

And again, the American nation owes it to the cause of republican 
liberty to establish such a university; since, if established, it would not 
only help to strengthen our own bands, but, through the influence of 
men of genius who would come to it from all parts of the world, become a 
I)oweriul indirect means of promoting the growth of free institutions in 
other lauds. 

Criually, a great nation like ours has resting upon it the solemn obli- 
gation to contribute in large measure to the advancement of knowledge 
as a means of general human progress^ To this end such a university 
would contribute to a degree beyond the power of calculation. Dis- 
coveries and inventions of every sort would greatly multiply under the 
force of its inspiration and systematic direction. As a consequence, 
the burden of toil would be earlier lightened in all civilized lands; added 
millions of unfettered minds would earlier find new profit as well as 
pleasure in the world of thought; and mankind would advance with 
more rapid strides towards the goal of a true civilization. Hence it was 
that the patriots and philanthropists of America but lately gathered in 
Independence Hall, for the organization of a human freedom league 
and for the purpose of maturing plans for a congress of the representa- 
tives of all the republics, adopted resolutions strongly supportive of 
the proposition to found a national university at the earliest possible 
day. 



III. 

REASONS FOR THE UNIVERSITY AT WASHINGTON. 

These are not far to seek. In the first place, the District of Columbia 
is the only sufficient and suitable spot within the United States where 
the Federal Government has exclusive and perpetual jurisdiction. 

Secondly, the District of Columbia, besides being in every way suita- 
ble as a location, is the spot designated by the Father of his Country, 
who was the first to propose its establishment, and who left such en- 
dowment as he was able for its establishment there. 

Moreover, Washington is far more than a "sufficient and suitable" 
spot for a national university. 

(1) It is built in the midst of one of the finest landscapes in Amer- 
ica — one that becomes to the lover of nature a constant source of pleas- 
ure and inspiration. 

(2) It is one of the most healthful, as well as most agreeable, locali- 
ties in the country — warm enough in summer, yet never so hot as some 
others, never intensely cold in winter; its climate, all in all, more 
equable than that enjoyed by other cities east of the Rocky Mountains. 

(3) The city of Washington is without parallel in this country for the 
excellence of its plan; for the number of its parks, squares, triangles, 
and circles ; for the breadth and beauty of its streets, the magnificence 
of its public structures, and the extent of its adornment with historic 
monuments and the statues of heroic men. 

(4) It abounds in historic associations of priceless value. One sees 
on every hand the private abodes and places for public activity of 
statesmen, orators, scholars, and scientists who have won immortal 
honors and added unfading luster to the American name. 

(5) As the city stands to-day it is hardly equaled by any other for 
the elegance of its private mansions; and the building of new ones, 
each vieing with the other, still proceeds at a steady if not rapid i^ace. 

(6) It is a desirable place for the residence of advanced students and 
professors, because of the unequaled proportion of its citizens eminent 
for culture in science, art, letters, and philosophy. 

(7) It is no less desirable on account of its metropolitan character. 
Here are gathered annually and almost constantly leading representa- 
tives of all geographical divisions; not only the statesmen of all sec- 
tions, but also f&e representatives of every sort of national organiza- 

22 



A NATIONAI. ITNIVERSITY. 23 

tion. It is fast becoming- the rallying point for every great interest 
of the country and the world. 

(8) With its varied culture and elegance of manners, it is also the 
most democratic of cities. Men and women of worth and genius, whose 
modest means and humble abode would limit them in some other cities 
to the more lowly associations, are here made welcome in the costly 
palace of the cultured and opulent. 

(0) The multitude of religious, charitable, and philanthropic organ- 
izations in active operati(ni, with less than the average proportion of 
the haunts of vice, make it a comparatively safe place for advanced 
students Avhose ambition would lead them to Washington as a high 
seat of learning. 

(10) For all these reasons — for what Washington is, embraces, and 
represents — there is no place like it in America for the culture and 
sure growth of a love of country. The students here gathered from 
every quarter, and here taught, not alone by the university, but likewise 
taught and molded by the spirit and patriotic influences of the city 
itself, would in time return to their thousands of homes more ardent 
patriots, the better qualified to serve their country, the more resolute 
in purpose to protect it from perils of every nature and to promote its 
highest welfare. 

Thirdly, Washington has already an aggregation of facilities and op- 
portunities in the way of legislative bodies, courts of every class, scien- 
tific bureaus, and like organizations, as well as libraries, museums, art 
collections, laboratories, workshops, and other sources of help available 
to a greater or less extent, such as is hardly surpassed by any in even 
the Old World. Behold the inventory of them : 
In the Treasury Department of the United States — 

The Office of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

The Office of the Life-Saving Service. 

The Marine Hospital Service. 

The Bureau of Statistics. 

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 
In the War Department — 

The several military bureaus. 
In the Navy Department — 

The Naval Observatory, 

The Office of the Nautical Almanac. 

The Hydrographic Office. 

The Bureau of Navigation. 

The Bureau of Yards and Docks. 

The Bureau of Ordnance. 

The Bureau of Construction and Repair. 

The Bureau of Steam Engineering. 

The Museum of Hygiene. ^ ' 

The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. 

The Dispensary. 



24 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

In the Department of the Interior — 

The Patent Office. 

The Bureau of Education. 

The Office of the Geological Survey. 

The Census Office. 
In the Department of Agriculture — 

The Botanical Division, with the gardens and grounds. 

The Division of Vegetable Pathology. 

The Pomological Divis.ion. 

The Microscopical Division. 

The Chemical Division. 

The Ornithological Division. 

The Forestry Division. 

The Entomological Division. 

The Silk Section. 

The Experimental Stations. 

The Office of Statistics. 

The Bureau of Animal Industry. 

The Weather Bureau. 

The Agricultural Museum, 
Of establishments not under Departmental control — 

The Smithsonian Institution. 

The National Museum, with its twenty-two dexDartments. 

The Medical Museum. 

The Medical Library. 

The Bureau of Ethnology. 

The Light-House Board. 

The Commission of Fish and Fisheries. 

The Arsenal. 

The Congressional Library. 

The United States Botanic Garden. 

The Zoological Garden (in preparation). 

The Government Printing Office. 

The Soldiers' Home. 

Office of the National Board of Health. 

Government Hospital for the Insane. 

The National Deaf-Mute College. 

Courts, District, Circuit, and Supreme. 
Of local institutions and establishments — 

The Columbian University, with its professional department of 
law and department of medicine. 

The Howard University, with its like departments. 

The Georgetown University, with its departments. 

The "National University" law school and school of medicine. 

The Corcoran Art Gallery. 

The Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 25 

Of local iustitutioDS and establislinieiits — Coiitiuued. 

The Ooluinbiai Hospital for Woiiieu. 

The Children's Hospital. 

The Providence Hospital. 
Of learned associations of men — 

The Philosophical Society of Washington. 

The Anthropological Society. 

The Biological Society. 

The Cheniical Society. 

The Botanical Society. 

The National Geogra[)hical Society. 
To all of which juight be added, since their annual meetings are held 
at Washington, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American 
Historical Society. 

Already the total valuation of the collections, literary and scientific, 
belonging to the Goveruinent and available for purposes of instruction, 
is over |3(),()0(),000; the aggregate expenditures for the care and use of 
them in the work of the Government, nearly $4,000,000 annually. And 
the collections are rapidly growing. 

The Congressional Library, already the largest in the New World, 
having long since oiitgrown its present accommodations, is soon to be 
put in ])ossession of the finest library building on the face of the earth 
and will then rapidly advance to its proper rank by the side of those 
great collections at Loudon and Paris. 

The Smithsonian Listitutiou, having relations of exchange with every 
government, institution, and society of importance in the world, is i^re- 
pared to offer to the University, when established, unparalleled ad- 
vantages in the departments of natural history aud the arts. 

Fourth. We have at Washington, in all departments of the Govern- 
ment, nearly a thousand experts in a great number of classes or branches 
of service, from the shops in the navy-yard to the Supreme Court itself; 
the whole body of them constituting the most important cluster of men 
of genius and rare attainments in the world. Hundreds of these men 
could serve a great university, either as lecturers and instructors, or by 
furtherance of its scientific work in some other way; thus greatly aid- 
ing it, while also adding something to their very moderate regular in- 
comes, and gaining new inspiration for a still better service in their 
usual rounds, if not, indeed, for the supreme work of new discovery. 
For a great and powerful nation to allow all these vast and varied 
resources to remain indefinitely without the fullest possible use in the 
interest of science and learning, Avhile at the same time multitudes of 
its citizens are suftering irreparable loss for want of them, is inconi- 
j)rehensible. It is certainly the worst economy conceivable and seems 
hardly less than criminal. 

Fifth. Washington is becoming not only the most beautiful large city 
in America, as well as one of the most healthful, and also a favorite 



26 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. , 

place of residence for people of talent, culture, and fortune; it is also 
to be the seat of many institutions of learning; adding to the universi- 
ties already there, with the several law and other professional schools, 
which have made it an important educational center, great institutions 
of the university rank for the Catholic and Methodist churches, and 
probably for yet other religious bodies. Plant there, in the midst of all 
these, a national university, with its great central faculties of art, let- 
ters, science, and philosophy, its high departments of the mathematical 
and physical sciences, of applied chemistry, of mining and metallurgy, 
of civil and mechanical engineering, of topographical and hydrograph- 
ical engineering, of architecture, of geology and mineralogy, of the bio- 
logical sciences, of agriculture, of sanitation, of medicine, of jurispru- 
dence, of education, of commerce, of the social and political sciences, 
with its superior schools of every other sort, bringing into relations 
with it the navy and military schools as well, and there will also come 
the great theological schools of every denomination, each with its inde- 
pendent control, yet each borrowing from the university in many de- 
partments, and in turn strengthening it by augmentation of numbers 
consecrated to high aims, and giving to it that increased invigoration 
which comes of the attrition of intellectual forces. 

Sixth. Since Washington is the seat of government for the nation, it 
is for the interest of good government that the representatives of the 
people who concentrate there should have the benefit of such an atmos- 
phere and of such personal contact as would be afforded by a university 
city. Larger information, broader views, and loftier aims would be 
theirs, even the ablest and best of them, by reason of the influences 
that would envelop them even as the earth is enveloped in its own ocean 
of ether. 

Seventh. The presence of a great university in the national capital 
would have a direct influence on the character of the people's repre- 
sentation in Congress; encouraging men of the highest type, of highest 
culture, and of imrest aspirations to seek these positions of so great im- 
portance to the country and to the cause of good government every- 
where, and yet from which some may now shrink because of the sacri- 
fices involved. 

Last of all, the presence of a great national university at the seat of 
government, with all it involves of opportunity, intellectual associa- 
tion, social refinement, and moral dignity, would tend to insure to the 
United States such representation from foreign courts as would yet 
further improve the tone of the national capital, while in an important 
manner adding to the influence of our country in all matters of diplo- 
matic intercourse and in the satisfactory adjustment of international 
questions. 



IV. 

SUMMARY OF EFFORTS IN THE PAST. 

A summary of the notable efforts bitlierto made in behalf of a national 
university would probably surprise even those most familiar with the 
history of education. While it can hardly be doubted that others than 
those herein noted have been made, it is nevertheless true that great 
care has been taken to make the memorandum complete, and to present 
the steps known to have been taken in due chronological order, begin- 
ning with the few important words to that end in Gen. Washington's 
headquarters at Cambridge, and ending Avith the resolutions recently 
adopted by the Human Freedom League in old Independence Hall, 
and by the General Committee of Three Hundred charged with the 
duty of arranging for a Pan-Republic Congress, to be held in 1893. 

Passing such known efforts in simple review, we note: 

ri. The suggestion of Samuel Blodget, afterwards author of the first 
formal American work on political economy, in the presence of Gen. 
Washington, Gen. Greene, and Maj. William Blodget, in Washington's 
military camp at Cambridge, in October, 1775 — a suggestion made in 
answer to remarks upon the damage the militia were doing to the col- 
leges in which they were quartered, and in the following words : 

Well, to make amends for these injuries, I hope after our war we shall erect a noble 
national university at Avhich the youth of all the world may be proud to receive in- 
structions.' 

II. The important words of Gen. Washington in response to the fore- 
going, namely: 

Young man, you are a prophet, inspired to speak what I am confident will one day he 
realized. 

III. The yet more memorable remark of Washington after the Eevo- 
lutionary war, the permanent location of the national capital, and a 
most careful consideration of the university interest, to wit: 

While the work of establishing a national university may be properly deferred 
until Congress is comfortably accommodated and the city has so far grown as to be 
jirepared for it, the enterprise must not be forgotten; and I trust that I have not omitted 
to take such measures as will at all events secure the entire object in time. (Referring to 
his intended bequest.) 

IV. The strenuous efforts of James Madison and Charles C. Pieker- 
itrg^doubtless with the earnest encouragement of Washington, and with 

1 Samuel Blodget's "Economica," p. 22. 

27 



28 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

tlie active support of Benjamin Frantlin, James Wilson, William Sam- 
uel Johnson, James Eutledge, and yet others of its distinguished mem- 
bers, in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, who desired to have 
provision for a national university expressly made in the Constitution 
itself — efforts only at length discontinued in deference to the general 
ox)inion that the power to establish such an institution was sufficiently 
implied. 

Following is a correct summary of the proceedings on this subject 
in the convention, as recorded, by James Madison: 

May 29, 1787 . — Mr. Charles Pickeriug Ifii'd before the House the draft of a Federal 
Government, which he had prepared, to he agreed upon between the free and inde- 
pendent States of America : 

The legislature shall have power * * * 

* * * « » * * 

To establish and provide for a national university at the seat of government of 

the United States. 1 

* * * * » * '* 

August 18, 1787. — In convention Mr. Madison submitted, in order to be referred to 
the Committee of Detail, the following powers proposed to be added to those of the 
general legislature: ^ 

* * * To establish a university.^ 

* * * * ^-Py-^tM^t^ * * 

Septeniber 14, 1787. — Mr. Madison and Mr. Kelceri-ng moved to insert in the list of 
powers voted in August a power to establish a university in which no preference or 
distinction should be allowed on account of religion.^ 

Mr. Wilson and others supported the motion, but Gbuverneur Morris 
strongly insisted that such addition to the Constitution would be a 
superfluity, since "the exclusive power at the seat of government 
would reach the object." This view was shared by enough members 
to defeat the proposition; Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, and Mr. Johnson, of Connecticut, voting for it as a 
means of making the university more sure, and Massachusetts, Xew 
Hampshire, Kew Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, and Mr. Sher- 
man, of Connecticut, voting in the negative. Not one word appears 
to have been said against the desirability of the proposed university. 

Y. The argument and appeal of Dr. Benjamin Eush, signer of the 
Declaration of Independence and a leading scientist of his time : 

(1) In his address to the people of the United States, in 1787, among 
other things, strongly arguing for a Federal university, as a means of 
securing to the people au education suited to the needs of the country, 
a true university with post-graduate scholarships, and fellowships in 
connection with the consular service, and an educated civil service 
generally. 

(2) A year later, in another appeal through the Pennsylvania Ga- 
zette, in which are found the following passages : 

Your government can not be executed ; it is too extensive for a republic. It is 
contrary to the habits of the people, say the enemies of the Constitution of the United 
States, However opposite to the opinions and wishes of a majority of the citizens 

'Madison Papers, II, 740. » Madison Papers, III. 1354. 8 Madison Papers, HI, 1577. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 29 

of the United States these declarations and predictions may be, they will certainly 
come to pass, unless the people are prepared for onr new form of government by an 
edncation adapted to the new and peculiar situation of our country. To eft'cct this 
great and necessary work let one of the first acts of the new Congress be to estab- 
lish within the district to bo allotted for them, a Federal university, into which the 
youth of the United States shall be received after they have finished their studies 
and taken degrees in the colleges of their respective States. * * * 

Should this plan of a Federal university, or one like it, be adopted, then will be- 
gin the golden age of the ITuited States. Wliile the business of education in Europe 
consists in lectures upon the ruins of Palmyra and the antiquities of Heroulaneum, 
or in dispute about Hebrew points, Greek particles, or the accent and quantity of the 
Roman language, the youth of America will be employed in acquiring those branches 
of knowledge which increase the convenience of life, lessen human misery, improve 
onr country, promote population, exalt the human understanding, and establish do- 
mestic, social, and political happiness. 

Let it not be said. This is not the time for such a literary and political establish- 
ment. Let us first restore jjublic credit. * * * Let us regulate our militia, let 
US build our navy, and let us protect and extend our commerce. * « * This is 
false reasoning. We shall never restore jjublic credit, regulate our militia, build a 
navy, or revive our commerce until we remove the iguorance and prejudices and 
change tlie habits of our citizens, and this can never be done until we inspire them 
with Federal principles, which can only be effected by our young men meeting and 
spending two or three years together in a national university, and afterwards dis- 
seminating their knowledge.and principles through every county, town, and village 
of the United States. — [Republished by Dr. Goodc, 1790.] 

\ VI. The efforts of tlie newspaper press during the closing years of 
the last century, as reported by Samuel Blodget in his work entitled 
"Economica" — efforts so many that in speaking of tliem he remarks: 

It would be an endless task) and require volumes to hold all that has been written 
in fiivor of a Federal heart and university in our perodical papers since 1775. \ 

As examples, extracts are taken from some of the newspaper articles 
quoted by Blodget^ as published September, 1787. 

; If a Federal university should be established I shiill advance my humble opinion' 
on the plan; hexe it is enough to observe that the institution must be simple, com- 
plete, and grand.^ The great science of politics requires a particular professorship, 
and a person qualified for this place must be one of the first characters in the United 
States. A mere financier or civilian is not a politician; this jihilosophic character 
must understand morals, jsyar, finance, commerce, manufactures, agriculture, police, 
philosophy; he must have a perfect view of all the great affairs of a nation in their 
whole extent and intimate connection. * * * 

The belles lettres or elegant literature claim also particular attention. These are 
both in the aiicleut and modern stile called humaniora, because they humanize and 
refine the human heart. They are not merely ornamental, but extremely useful by 
ennobling those aflections which are the bands of civil society; and by qualifying 
men in several respects for all the important offices of government. * * * 

Natural philosophy and mathematics are the same everywhere, but moral and sen- 
timental literature has a great influence on manners and government. A critical in- 
quiry into the species and forms of learning most proj^er for America would be a no- 
ble object to a man of genius and political knowledge. * * * 

America must have her own sterling, even in learning; let her estaMish an academy 
of belles letires; of this every fine genius in tlie Union should be a member ; it must 
be central, and under the patronage of the Federal power. 

1 Economica, Appendix, pp. iv-vii. 



30 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

From the Independent Gazetteer, Philadelphia, 1788. ISTo. 548 : 

A gentleman under the signature of Nestor, some months since, gave the public a 
hint for erecting a Federal university. How much this will promote learning in 
general is evident from the situation of this young country, whose jjecuniary and 
literary resources can not yet he great enough for more than one illustrious assembly 
of the muses. (It would be an excellent institution for promoting Federal sentiments. 
In the happy spring of youth all our affections bloom — the high sense of honor, 
the warmth of friendship, the glow of patriotic virtue there animate the enrap- 
tured soul ; sublime and elegant literature there has its highest relish, relines and 
exalts these noble passions. What glorious effects may not then a nation expect 
from a concourse of her best sons at the temple of wisdom ! Society in the sweet 
enjoyment of wisdom, literature, and the mauy social pleasures of an academic life 
will create a mutual endearment and form those charming friendships that will con- 
tinue to the grave. (When after a finished education they depart to their different 
stations and places of residence they will be so many capital links of the Federal Union; 
so many stately columns under the grand fabric; so many bright luminaries to shed 
a radiance through the whole Federal system, and so many powerful centripetal 
forces to give eternal stability. 

YII. In this connection may also be cited the following from The 
American Museum, October, 1789 : 

Whether viewed by the contemplative eye of the philosopher or fanned by the more 
active mind of the politician and legislator, the happiness arising to society from 
the progress of science in the world presents the most pleasing consequences as 
our encouragement to establish institutions for the education of youth in every 
^ branch of literature. 1 No country is more indebted to the cause of learning than 
America. To the well-informed mind of her citizens does she owe her present im- 
portant rank in the scale of nations ; to this is she indebted for her unparalleled 
advances to greatness and empire, and on this does the preservation of her future 
liberties and all the invaluable rights of human nature essentially depend. * « * 

America, from her local situation, possesses greater advantages for the promotion 
of literature and the arts than have marked any other nation in the early stages of 
its political existence, not being subject to the constant inroads of barbarians or the 
tyranny of superstition, nor interrupted by the frequent din of arms, ever hostile to 
the arts. * » * 

While the lesser schools and every literary institution, however small, must be 
thought worthy the attention of Government, I hope to see the establishment of a 
Federal university. It is an idea which has been heretofore suggested, and which 
presages much future advantage to the public. Such a universitj' may be erected in 
a central situation of the Union, under the management of able instructors, to which 
the students graduating at the different State colleges may repair to finish their 
education, by remaining two or three years, and principally directing their studies 
to the political interests of the country, the great object of legislation and national 
jurisprudence. As we have taken our station among the other nations of the world, 
it is highly proper we should form on national principles, which can be best done 
by promoting such institutions as have a tendency to remove local views and habits 
and beget mutual confidence, esteem, and good fellowship between those who 
* * * must rise or fall together. The institution above alluded to, I think, will 
he happily calculated to answer those valuable purposes and have the most beneficial 
effects in a political view. * * * 

It remains for America, by an early attention to the encouragement of every art 
and science, and the cultivation of the human mind to the highest pitch of im- 
provement, to fit the inhabitants of this western world for the enjoyment of that 
freedom and independence for which they have so nobly fought, and which will 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 31 

never be wrested Iroiu them while they imbibe with tlieir milk the lirst princijiles 
of civil liberty and are uniformly educated in an abhorrence of every attempt that 
may be formed to deprive them of this mighty boon of heaven.' 

\ VIII. The words of President Washington in his address to Congress 
on January 8, 1790: 

Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me in the opinion that there is 
nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and 
literature. Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of haiipincss. In one in 
which the measures of government receive their irapressi(ms so innnediately from 
the sense of the conuuuuity as in ours it is proportionably essential. \ To the secur- 
ity of a free constitution it contributes in various ways — by convincing those who 
are interested with the public administration that every valuable end of govern- 
ment is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people and by teaching 
the people themselves to know and to value their own rigbts; to discern and provide 
against invasions of them; to distinguish between oppression and the necessary ex- 
ercise of lawful authority, between brethren, proceeding from a disregard to their 
convenience, and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society; to dis- 
criminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness, cherishing the first and 
avoiding the last; and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against encroach- 
ments with an inviolable respect for the laws. Whether this desirable object will be 
best promoted by affording aids to seminaries of learning already established, by the 
institution of a. national university, or by any other expedients, will be worthy of a 
lilace in the deliberations of the legislature. ^ 

IX. The Senate's concurring response of January 11, 1790, to Presi- 
dent Washington's message of January 8, preceding. 

Literature and science are essential to the preservation of a fair constitution ; the 
measures of government should therefore bo calculated to strengthen the confidence 
that is due to that important truth.' 

• X. The address of the House of Eepresentatives, on January 12, 
1790, in answer to the President's message of January 8. 

We concur with you in the the sentiment that agriculture, commerce, and manufac- 
tures are entitled to legislative protection, and that the promotion of science and 
literature will contribute to the security of a free government. In the progress of 
our deliberations we shall not lose sight of objects so worthy of our regard.^ > 

! XI. President Washington's letter of Xovember 27, 1794, to John 
Adams, Vice-President of the United States, relative to the proposi- 
tion of Thomas Jefl'erson to import the Genevan faculty of learned men 
as a nucleus for a national university: 

I have not been able to give the papers herewith enclosed more than a hasty read 
ing, returning them without delay that you may offer the perusal of them to whom- 
soever you should think proper. The picture drawn in them of the Genevese is 
really interesting and affecting. The pro'position of transplanting the members 
entire of the university of that place to America, with the acquisition of means to 
establish the same, and to be accompanied by a considerable emigration, is impor- 
tant, requiring more consideration than under the circumstances of the moment I am 

able to bestow upon it. \ 

_,,i __^ 

1 American Museum, Vol. 6, pp. 290, 291. ^M., p. 9.36. 

"Auuals of Congress, Ist Cong., 2d sess., p. 933. ••Id., p. 1052. 



32 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

That a national university in this country is a thing to be desired has always been 
my decided opinion, and the approj^riation of ground and of lands for it in the 
Federal City has long been contemplated and talked of; but how matured or how 
far the transportation of an entire seminary of foreigners, who may not understand 
our language, can be assimilated therein is more than I am prejiared to give an 
opinion upon, or indeed how far funds in either case are attainable. * * * 

I shall at any leisure after the session is fairly opened take pleasure in a full and 
free consultation with you on the subject, being with much esteem and regard, etc.^ 

XII. President Wasliiugton's letter of December 15, 1794, to Edmimd 
Randolph, Secretary of State, requesting his "assistance, and that of 
Mr. James Madison, in maturing the measures proper to be adopted 
by him in disposing of the stocks designed to begin the endowment of 
the proposed national university : 

For the reasons mentioned to you the other day, namely, the Virginia Assembly 
being in session, and a plan being on foot for establishing a seminary of learning 
upon an extensive scale in the Federal City, it would oblige me if you and Mr. Madi- 
son would endeavor to mature the measures which will be proper for me to pursue in 
order to bring my designs into view as soon as you can make it convenient to your- 
selves. 

I do not know that the enclosed, or sentiments similar to them, arc proper to be 
engrafted in the communications which are to be made to the legislature of Virginia, 
or to the gentlemen who are named as trustees of the seminary which is proposed to 
be established in the Federal City; but as it is an extract of what is contained in 
my will on this subject, I send it merely for consideration. 

The shares in the different navigations are to be located and applied in the manner 
which has been the subject of conversation. ^ 

I'^XIII. Washington's formal letter of January 28, 1795, to the Com- 
missioners of the District of Columbia, plainly announcing his intention 
to contribute a considerable sum towards the founding of a university 
peculiarly American in teachings; in which letter l^e said: 

A plan for the establishment of a university in the Federal city has frequently 
been the subject of conversation. * * * 

It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret with me that 
the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign countries for the purpose of 
education. Although there are doubtless many, under these circumstances, Avho 
escape the danger of contracting principles unfavorable to republican govern- 
ment yet we ought to deprecate the hazard attending ardent and susceptible minds 
from being too strongly and too easily prepossessed in favor of other jtolitical sys- 
tems before they are capable of appreciating their own. 

For this reason I have greatly wished to see a plan adopted by which the arts, 
sciences, and belles-lettres could be taught in their fullest extent, thereby embrac- 
ing all the advantages of European tuition with the means of acquiring the liberal 
knowledge which is necessary to qualify our citizens for the exigencies of public as 
well as private life, and (which with me is a consideration of great magnitude) by 
assembling the youth from the different parts of this rising republic, contributing 
from their intercourse an interchange of information to the removal of prejudices 
which might perhaps sometimes arise from local circumstances. 

The Federal city, from its centrality and the advantages which in other respects 
it must have over any other place in the United States, ought to be preferred as a 



1 Writings of Washington, Sparks, XI, 1. '■" Id., p. 2. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 33 

proper site for such a nniversity. And if a plan can he a(Ioi)ted upon a scale as ex- 
tensive as I have described, and tlie execution of it should commence under favor- 
able auspices in a reasonable time with a fair prospect of success. I will grant in 
perpetuity tifty shares in the navigation of the Potomac River toward the endow- 
ment of it^ 

What annuity will arise from these shares when the navigation is in full opera- 
tion can at this time be only conjectured, and those who are acciuainted with it can 
form as good a .judgment as myself. 

As the design of this university has assumed no form with which lam acquainted, 
and as I am equally ignorant who the persons are who have taken or are disposed 
to take the maturing of the plan upon themselves, I have been at a loss to wliom I 
should make the coumiunication of my intentions. If the Commissioners of the 
Federal city have any particular agency in bringing the matter forward, tlien 
the information which I now give to them is in proper course. If, on the other 
hand, they have no more to do in it than others who may be desirous of seeing so 
important a measure carried into effect, they will be so good as to excuse my using 
them as the medium for disclosing these my intentions; because it appears neces- 
sary that the funds for the establishment and support of the institution should be 
known to the i)romoters of it, and I see no mode more eligible for announcing my 
purpose. For these reasons I give you the trouble of this address, and the assur- 
ance of being, etc. '■ 

XIV. The indirect approval of the national university proposition 
by Thomas Jeft'erson, in his letter of February 23, 1795, to AVasliington 
on the subject of transferring to this country the faculty of the College 
of Geneva, Switzerland, in which he said : 

You were formerly deliberating on the purjjose to which you should applj^ the shares 
in the Potomac and .lames River companies presented to you by our Assembly, and 
you did me the honor of asking me to think on the subject. As well as I remember, 
some academical institution was thought to offer the best application of the money. 
Should you have finally decided in favor of this, a circumstance has taken place 
which would render the present moment the most advantageous to carry it into exe- 
cution by giving to it at the outset such an eclat and su(;h solid advantage as would 
insure a very general concourse to it of the youths from all our States, and probably 
from the other parts of America, v.hich are free enf)ngh to adopt it. The persecution 
which has taken i)lace at Geneva, has demolished the college of that place, which w.as, 
in a great measure, supported by the former government. The colleges of Geneva 
and Edinburg were considered as the two eyes of Europe in matters of science, inso- 
much that no other pretended to anyxivalship Avith either. Edinburg has been the 
most famous in medicine during the life of Cullen; but Geneva most so in the 
other branches of science and much the most resorted to from the continent of 
Europe, because the French language was that which was used. 

A Mr. DTvernois, a Genevan, and a nuui of science, known as the author of a history 
of that republic, has proposed the transplanting of that college in a body to America. 
He has written to me on the subject, as he has also done to Mr. Adams, as he was 
formerly known to us both, giving us the details of his views for effecting it. Proba- 
bly these have been communicated to you by Mr. Adams, as DTvernois desired 
should be done, but lest they should not have been communicated, I will take the 
liberty of doing it. His plan, I think, would go to about ten or twelve professor- 
ships. He names to me the following professors as like]^% if not certain, to embrace 
the plan. * * * 

1 Sparks, xi, 14. 
^, Mis. 222 3 



34 A NATIONAL UNIVEESITY. 

It could not be expected that any proposition from strangers unacquainted with 
our means and our wants, could jump at once into a perfect accommodation with 
these. But those presented to us would seem to trend on and are capable of modifica- 
tions reconcilable perhaps to the views of both parties. 

(1) We can well dispense with her second and third colleges, the trial being too 
partial for our extensive country, and the second sufficiently and better provided 
for already by our public and j^rivate grammar schools. * * * 

(2) We are not to count on raising the money from lands, and consequently Ave 
must give uj) the proi^osal of the colony of Geneva farmers. But the wealth of Gen- 
eva in money being notorious and the class of monej^ed men being that which the 
new government are trying to get rid of, it is probable that a capital sum could be 
borrowed on the credit of the fund under consideration sufficient to meet the first 
expenses of the transplantation and establishment, and to supply also the deficiency 
of revenue till the profits of the shares shall become sufficiently superior to the sup- 
port of the college to repay the sums borrowed. 

(3) The composition of the academy can not be settled there. It must be adapted 
to our circumstances, and can therefore only be fixed betAveenthem and persons here 
acquainted with those circumstances, and conferring for the jiurpose after their ar- 
riA'al here. For a country so marked for agriculture as ours, I should think no pro- 
fessorship so important as one not mentioned by them —a professor of agriculture — 
who, before the students should leave the college, should carry them through a 
course of lectures on the principle and practice of agriculture; and that this pro- 
fessor should come from no country but England. Indeed, I should mark Young as 
the man to be obtained. These, however, are modifications to be left till their arrival 
here. 

A question would arise as to the jilace of the establishment. As far as I can learn 
it is thought just that the State which gives the [first] revenue should be most con- 
sidered in the uses to which it is appropriated. But I suppose that their expecta- 
tions would be satisfied by a location within their limits, and that this might be so 
far from the Federal city as normal considerations would recommend, and yet near 
enough to it to be viewed as an appendage of that, and that the splendor of thetAvo 
objects would reflect usefully on each other. 

Circumstances have already consumed much of the time allowed us. Should you 
think the proposition can be brought at all within your views, your determination, 
as soon as more important occupations will admit of it, Avould require to be con- 
veyed as early as possible to M. D'lvernois. now in London, lest my last letter should 
throw the parties into other engagements.! 

XV. President Washington's letter of March. 15, 1795, to Thomas 
Jefferson, in answer to inquiries of February 23 : 

I received your letter of the 23d ultimo, but not at so early a period as might have 
been expected from the date of it. My mind has always been more disposed to 
apply the shares in the inland navigation of the Potomac and James Rivers, which 
were left to my disposal by the Legislature of Virginia, towards the eudoAvment of 
a university in the United States than to any other object it has contemplated. In 
pursuance of this idea, and understanding that other means are in embryo for estab- 
lishing so useful a seminary in the Federal City, I did, on the 28th of January last, 
announce to the commissioners thereof my intention of vesting in jierpetuity the 
fifty shares 1 held under that act in the navigation of the Potomac, as an additional 
means of carrying the plan into effect, provided it should be adopted on a scale so 
liberal as to extend to and embrace a complete system of education. 

I had little hesitation in giving the Federal City a preference OA^er all other places 
for the institution, for the following reasons : First, on account of its being the per- 

1 Sparks, xi, 473. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 35 

manent seat of the Government of this Union, and where the laws and policy of it must 
be better understood than in any local part thereof. Secondly, because of its cen- 
trality. Thirdly, because one-half (or near it) of the District of Columbia is within 
the commonwealth of Virginia, and the whole of the State not inconvenient 
thereto. Fourthly, because as a part of the endowment, it would be useful, but 
alone would be inadequate to that end. Fifthly, because many advantages, I con- 
ceive, would result from the jurisdiction whicli the general government will have 
over it, which no other spot would possess. And lastly, as the seminary is contem- 
plated for the completion of education and study of the sciences, not for boys in 
their rudiments, it will afford the students an opportunity of attending: the debates 
in Congress, and thereby becoming more liberally and better acquainted with the 
principles of law and government. 

My judgment and my wishes point equally strong to the application of the James 
River shares to the same subject at the same place; but, considering the source from 
whence they were derived, I have, in the letter I am writing to the executive of Vir- 
ginia on this subject, left the application of them to a seminary within the State, to 
be located by the legislature. 

Hence, you will perceive that I have in a degree anticipated your proposition. I 
was restrained ii'om going the whole length of the suggestion by the folio win o- con- 
siderations : First, I did not know to what extent or when any plan would be so 
matured for the establishment of a university, as would enable any assurances to be 
given to the application of M. D'lveruois. Secondly, the propriety of trausplantino- 
the professors in a body (from Geneva) might be questioned for several reasons- 
among others, because they might not all be good characters nor all sufficiently ac- 
quainted with our language. And again, having been at variance with the leading 
party of their country, the measure might be considered as an aristocratical movement 
by more than those who, without any just cause that I can discover, are continually 
sounding the bell of aristocracy. And thirdly, because it might preclude some of the 
first professors in other countries from a participation, among whom some of the 
most celebrated characters in Scotland, in this line, might be obtained. 

Something, but of what nature I am unable to inform you, has been written by 
Mr. Adams to M. D'lvernois. Never having viewed my intended donation, as 
more than part of the means that were to set this establishment on foot, I did not 
incline to go too far in the encouragement of professors before the plan should 
assume a more formal shape, much less to induce an entire college to mi<>rate. 
The enclosed is the answer I have received from the commissioners, from which and 
the ideas I have here expressed, you will be enabled to decide on the best communi- 
cation to be made to M. D'lvernois. My letter to the commissioners has bound me 
to the fullilment of what is therein engaged, and if the legislature of Virginia on 
considering the subject, should view it in the same light as I do, the James River 
shares will be added threto, for I think one good institution of this sort is to be 
preferred to two imperfect ones, which, without other aid than the shares in both 
navigations, is more likely to fall through than to succeed upon the plan I contem- 
plate, which is, in a few words, to supersede the necessity of sending the youth of 
this country abroad for the purpose of education, where too often the principles and 
habits unfriendly to republican government are imbibed, and not easily discarded. 
Instituting such a one of our own as will answer the end, and associating them 
in the same seminary, will contribute to wear o<f those prejudices and unreasonable 
jealousies which prevent or weaken friendships and impair the harmony of the 
Union. ' 

Mr. Jefferson himself was finally convinced of the impracticability of 
the D'lvernois plan; and yet his interest in the national university 
increased with the years, as will appear from his official support as 

1 Sparks, xi, 19. 



36 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

president. His heart was indeed set upon a university for Virginia, 
but he was nevertheless ready, and all the more ready, on that account 
to promote the founding of a culminating institution at Washington, to 
be established and maintained by the ISTational Government. 

XVI. President Washington's letter of March 16, 1795, to Governor 
Brooke, of Virginia, concerning the disposition to be made of the shares 
in the Potomac Company, finally acceijted by him for jDublic use: 

It is with, indescribable regret that I have seen tlae youth of the United States 
migrating to foreign countries in order to acquire the higlier branches of erudition 
and to obtain a knowledge of the sciences. Although it would be injustice to many 
to pronounce the certainty of their imbibing maxims not congenial to republicanism, 
it must nevertheless be admitted that a serious danger is encountered by sending 
abroad among other political systems those who have not well learned the value of 
their own. 

The time is therefore come when a plan of universal education ought to be adopted 
in the United States. Not only do the exigencies of public and private life demand 
it, but if it should ever be apprehended that prejudice would be entertained in one 
part of the Union against the other, an efficacious remedy will be to assemble the 
youth of every part under such circumstances as will, by freedom of intercourse and 
collision of sentiment, give to their minds the direction of truth, philanthropy, and 
mutual conciliation. 

It has been represented that a university corresponding with these ideas is con- 
templated to be built in the Federal City, and that it will receive considerable en- 
dowments. This position is so eligible from its centrality, so convenient to Vir- 
ginia, by whose legislature the shares were granted and in which part of the Federal 
District stands, and combines so many other conveniences, that I have determined 
to invest the Potomac shares in that university.^ 

Presuming it to be more agreeable to the general assembly of Virginia that the 
shares in the James Eiver Company should be assessed for a similar object in some 
part of that State, I intend to allot them for a seminary to be erected at such place 
as they shall deem most proper. I am disposed to believe that a seminary of learn- 
ing upon an enlarged plan, but yet not coming up to the full idea of a university, is 
an institution to be preferred for the position which is to be chosen. The students 
who wish to pursue the Avhole range of science may pass with advantage from the 
seminary to the university, and the former by a due relation may be rendered coop- 
erative with the latter. 

I can not, however, dissemble my opinion that if all the shares were conferred on 
a university it would become far more important than when they are divided; and I 
have been constrained from concentring them in the same place merely by my anx- 
iety to reconcile a particular attention to Virginia with a great good, in which she 
will abundantly share in common with the rest of the United States. 

I must beg the favor of your excellency to lay this letter before that honorable 
body at their next session, in order that I may appropriate the James Eiver shares 
to the place which they may prefer. ^ 

XVII. The action of the Virginia legislature, on December 1, 1795, in 
responding to the foregoing communication of Washington to Governor 
Brooke. 

(1) By passing at once the following resolutions, to wit: 

Eesolved, therefore, That the appropriation by the said George Washington of the 
aforesaid shares in the Potomac Company to the university intended to be erected 

1 Sparks, XI, 22. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 37 

in tlie I^ofleral City is iiiailc, in a niiuiuer most worthy of public regard, and of tlio 
approbation of this Commonwealth. I 

Resolved also, That he bo roquestLktto appropriate the aforesaid shares in tlie James 
Rivef Company to a seminary at snch place in the npper country as lie may deem 
most convenient to a majority of the inhabitants thereof. ' 

(2) By also declaring" tliat — 

The plan contemplated, of erecting a nnivcrsity in the Federal City, where the 
yonth of the several States niiiy be assembled and the course of their education 
finished, deserves the countenance and sni)port of each State. 

XVIII. The further argument for a university and the importance of 
its early establishment, contained in President Washington's letter of 
September 1, 1796, to Secretary of State Alexander Hamilton, wherein 
he expresses regret that the Secretary had deemed it advisable to omit 
from the farewell address, then in prejiaration, the reference to a na- 
tional university, which he had seen fit to include in the rough draft 
sent to him; in which letter he said: 

I mean education generally, as one of the surest means of enlightening and giving 
just views of thinking to our citizens, but particularly the establishment of a uni- 
versity, wliere the youth of all i^arts of the United States might receive the polish of 
erudition in the arts, sciences, and belles-lettres, and where those who were disposed 
to run a political course might not only be instructed in the theory and principles, 
but (this senunary being at the seat of the General Government where the legisla- 
ture would bo in session half the year, and the interests and politics of the nation 
would be discussed) would lay the surest foundation for the practical part also. 

But that which would render it of the highest importance, in my opinion, is that 
at the Juvenal period of life, when friendships are formed and habits established that 
stick by one, the youth or young men from different parts of the United States would 
be assembled together, and would by degrees discover that there was not that cause 
for tliose jealousies and prejudices which one part of the Union had iuibibed against 
another. Of course sentiments of more liberality in the general policy of the country 
would result from it. Wliat but the mixing of people from different parts of the 
United States during the war rubbed off these impressions? A century in the ordi- 
nary intercourse would not have accomplished what the seven years' association in 
arms did; but that ceasing, prejudices are beginning to revive again, and never will 
be eradicated so effectually by any other means as the intimate intercourse of char- 
acters in early life, Avho, in all probability, will be at the head of the counsels of this 
country in a more advanced stage it. 

To show that this is no new idea of mine, I may appeal to my early conmiunica- 
tious to Congress, and to prove how seriously I have reflected on it since, and how well- 
disposed I have been and still am to contribute my aid towards carrying the meas- 
ure into effect, I inclose you an extract of a letter from me to the governor of Vir- 
ginia on this subject, and a copy of the resolutions of the legislature of that State 
in consequence thereof. 

I hiive not the smallest doubt that this donation (when the navigation is in com- 
plete operation, which it will be in less than two years) will amount to 1,200 or 
1,500 pounds sterling a year, and become a rapidly increasing fund. The proprie- 
tors of the Federal City have talked of doing something handsome towards it like- 
wise, and if Congress would appropriate some of the western lands to the same 
xises funds sufficient and of the most permanent and increasing sort might be so 
established as to invite the ablest jirofessors in Europe to conduct it.^ 

1 Sparks, xi, 25, note. * Works of Alex. Hamilton, vi, 147. 



38 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

XIX. The second letter of Wasliington to tlie Secretary of State on 
this same subject, on September 6, 1796, in which, while acquiescing in 
the view of Hamilton, he not only confesses his doubt as to the wisdom 
of omitting his proposed national university paragraphs from the 
farewell address, but manifests anew, and more touch ingly than else- 
where, his deep and abiding interest in the subject: 

If you think that the idea of a university had better be reserved for the speech 
at the opening of the session, I am content to defer the commnuication of it until 
that period ; but, even in that case, I would pray you, as soon as convenient, to 
make a draft for the occasion predicated on the ideas with which you have been fur- 
nished, looking, at the same time, into what was said on this head in my second 
speech to the first Congress, merely with a view to see what was said on the subject 
at that time; and this, you will perceive, was not so much to the point as I want to 
express now, though it may, if proper, be glanced at, to show that the subject had 
caught my attention early. 

But, to be candid, I much question whether a recommendation of this measure to 
the legislature will have a better effect now than formerly. It may show, indeed, 
my sense of its importance, and that it is a sufficient inducement with me to bring 
the matter before the public in some shape or another at the closing scenes of my 
political exit. My object for proposing to insert it where I did (if not improper) 
was to set the people ruminating on the importance of the measure, as the miost 
likely means of bringing it to pass.^ 

XX. Washington's Farewell Address, on September 17, 1796, 
wherein, without specializing upon this one particular point, on which 
he had, as above, spoken " once for all," he said: 

Promote then, as a subject of primary importance, institutions for the general dif- 
fusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of government gives force to 
public opinion it is essential that public opinion shall be enlightened. ^ 

XXI. Washington's letter to the commissioners of the Federal Dis- 
trict, on October 21, 1796, announcing his final decision as to the grounds 
to be set apart for the purposes of the national university: 

According to my promise I liave given the several matters contained in your letter 
of the 1st instant the best consideration I am able. 

The following is the result, subject, however, to alterations, if upon fuller investi- 
gation and the discussion I mean to have with you on these tojiics on my way to 
Philadelphia I should find cause therefor.' [Designation of the lauds chosen.] 

XXII. The eighth annual message of President George Washington, 
delivered December 7, 1796, in wliich he said : 

I have heretofore proposed to the consideration of Congress the expediency of estab- 
lishing a national university and also a military academy. The desirableness of 
both these institutions has so constantly increased with every new view I have 
taken on the subject that I can not omit the opportunity of once for all recalling 
your attention to them.' The assembly to which I address myself is too enlightened 
not to be fully sensible how much a flourishing state of the arts and sciences con- 
tributes to material i)rosperity and reputation. True it is that our country, much 
to its honor, contains many seminaries of learning highly respectable and useful ; 
but the funds upon which they rest are too narrow to command the ablest professors, 
in the different departments of liberal knowledge, for the institution contemplated, 

1 Hamilton's Works, vi, 149, 150. ^ id., p. 322. 

* Sparks, xii, 14. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 39 

tliongh they would he excclleut auxiliaries. Among the motives to such an insti- 
tution, the assimilation of the principles, opinions, and manners of onr countrymen, 
by the common education of a portion of our youth from every quarter, will deserve 
attention. The more homogeneous our citizens can be made in these particulars, 
the gi'eaterwill be our prospect of permnnent union; and a primary object of such a 
national institution should be the education of our youth in the science of govern- 
ment. In a republic what species of knowledge can bo equally important, and what 
duty more pressing on its legislature tlian to patronize a plan for conununicating it 
to those who are to be the guardians of the future liberties of the country f ' 

\ XXIII. The approval of tlie i)roposition by the Senate of the United 
States, in its address of December 10, 179G, to President Washington, 
saying, as it did unanimously: 

A national university may be converted to the most useful purposes; the science 
of legishition being so essentially dependent on the endowments of the mind, the 
public interests must receive eftectual aid from the general diffusion of knowledge; 
and the United States will assume a more dignified station among the nations of the 
earth by the successful cultivation of the higher branches of learning.- ' 

XXIV. The memorial of Gustavus Scott, William Thornton, and 
Alexander White, commissioners appointed under the "Act to establish 
the temporary and permanent seat of the Grovernment of the United 
States," and to whom also was referred that part of the President's 
speech relating to a national university; said memorial presented on 
December 12, 1796, and being as follows, to wit: 

To the Honorahh the Congress of the United States of Ameriea: 

The Commissioners appointed under the act entitled ''An act for establishing the 
temporary seat of the Government of the United States," respectfully represent: 

That the institution of a nation.al university withiu the United States has been the 
subject of much conversation ; that all men seem to agree in the utility of the measure, 
but that no eftectual means have hitherto been proposed to accomplish it; that 
recent transactions seem to call upon them in a more particular manner than on 
their fellow-citizens at large to promote this desirable object; they therefore take 
the liberty to state that after the temporary and permanent seat of the Government 
of the United States was located by the President, agreeably to the act of Congress 
above mentioned, the proprietors of the lands adjacent to and including the sites 
designated for the public buildings ceded a large territory for the pui-pose of a 
Federal city, and by their deeds of cession authorized the President of the United 
States for the time being to appropriate such portions thereof as he should deem 
necessary to public use. In virtue of this power, the President has appropriated 19 
acres 1 rood and 21 perches, part of the land so ceded, for the site of a national uni- 
versity. That he has likewise declared to them his intention to grant, in perpetuity, 
fifty shares in the navigation of the Potomac River as soon as the system assumes a 
shape which will enable him to do it with effect; and that they have no doubt when 
that event shall take plxce, but many liberal donations will be made as well in P^urope 
as in America ; that the money actually paid on these fifty shares is .5,000 pounds ster- 
ling; that the navigation is now nearly completed; and that all who are acquainted 
with the river Potomac and the adjacent country are sensible that the produce of 
these shares will be very great. They do not think it necessary to dilate on a sub- 
ject in respect to which there seems to be but one voice. 

The preservation of the morals and of the political principles of our youth ; the 
savings of the expense of foreign education; the drawing to our shores the youth 

'Annals, 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1519. ^^.nnals, 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1694. 



40 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

of other countries, particularly those attached to republican government, and the 
proportionate accession of wealth; the removal, or at least the diminution, of those 
local prejudices which at present exist in the several States, by the uniformity of 
education, and the opportunity of a free interchange of sentiment and information 
among the youth from all the various points of the Union, which would consequently 
take place, may, with certainty, he accounted among the benefits resulting from 
such an institution. We flatter ourselves it is only necessary to bring this subject 
within the view of the Federal legislature. We think you will eagerly seize the oc- 
casion to extend to it your patronage, to give birth to an institution which may 
perpetuate and endear your names to the latest posterity. 

How far it would be prosier to go at the present moment we presume not to de- 
termine, but Avould beg leave to observe that, although the ultimate organization of 
the institution may be postponed to a future period, when the means of establish- 
ing and supporting it should be more fully ascertained, yet much good will arise 
from a law authorizing proper persons to receive pecuniary donations and to hold 
estates, real and personal, which may be granted by deed or devised by last 
will and testament, for the use of the intended establishment, with proper regula- 
tions for securing the due application of the moneys paid. Without some provisions 
of this kind (to the establishing of which we consider the Federal legislature alone 
competent) the benevolent wishes of the virtuous and well disposed will be rendered 
abortive. 

Having performed what a sense of duty strongly impressed upon us to perform, 
we, with great respect, submit the consideration of the premises to your honorable 
body, with the further observation that the relative state of Europe and America 
seems to render this a favorable era for the commencement of the work. Whether 
the flames of war shall long continue to rage within the bounds of the former, or 
whether they shall be extinguished by a speedy peace, the learned and the wealthy 
in those unfortunate regions will seek an asylum from future oppression in our more 
happy country, many of whom will, no doubt, be among fhe foremost to promote 
those useful arts, the benefits of which they so well understand.^ 

In i)resentiiig tlie foregoiug memorial Mr. Madison warmly indorsed 
the same : 

Observing that it had been the subject of much conversation, but no eftectual 
measures had been adopted toward its accomplishment, that a portion of land suffi- 
cient for the buildings, together with fifty shares on the Potomac River, fast becom- 
ing very valuable, had been appropriated by the President of the United States, that 
there would doubtless be many liberal donations and subscriptions both in this 
country and in Europe toward its support, and that it would also introduce youths 
from other countries and tend to the general wealth of this country by the more 
general dissemination of useful knowledge. 

The record adds : 

Mr. Madison moved that it be referred to a select committee, and he conceived 
that it would be proper for the same committee to take up that point of the Presi- 
dent's speech which relates to the same subject. 

Mr. W. Smith wished to inquire of the gentleman from Virginia, whether it would 
not be more orderly for the memorial to lie on the table until thai part of the 
President's speech came up iinder discussion in the House. He suggested this idea 
from the consideration that it would look more respectful to the Chief Magistrate 
to let it come from him as he had recommended it to the attention of the House in his 
address. 

Mr. Madison replied that it would be more consistent with order for the memorial 
to go through a select committee. 2 * * * 

The motion passed, and a committee of three members was appointed, 

1 Annals, 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1591. ^ Id., pp. 1600, 1601, 1694-7, 1704-11. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 41 

XXV. The affirmative action of James Madison on December 21, 1796, 
and of the coiimiittee to whom was referred the said memorial of the 
commissioners aforesaid, and of which committee he was chairman, in 
reporting back such memorial together with the following resolution: ^ 

Resolved, That it is expedient at present that authority shonhl be given, as prayed 
for by the said memorial, to proper persons to receive and hohl in trust pecuniary dona- 
tions in aid of the ajipropriations already made towards the establishment of a uni- 
versity within the District of Columbia.' 

This resolution was made the order of the day for the Monday fol- 
lowing, when it was called up and discussed, laid over, and discussed 
again and again until, on the 27th of December, by a vote of 37 to 3G, 
it Avas postponed until certain information could be obtained from the 
legislature of Maryland, and Avas not again considered. 

XXYl. The cordial support by John Adams of the general principles 
of according aid to progress in science and learuing, as shown — 

(1) By his i)art in the establishment of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences, incorporated by the legislature of Massachusetts, in 
1780. 

(2) By his support of the propositions of Madison and Pickering to 
put a provision for a national university into the Constitution of the 
United States. (See No. IV.) 

(3) By the spirit of his inaugural address of March 4, 1797, referring 
as it did with usual warmth to his — 

Love of science and letters and a wish to jiatronize every rational effort to encour- 
age schools, colleges, and uiliversities, academies, and every institntit)n for propagat- 
ing knowledge, virtue, and religion among all classes of the people, not only for the 
benign influence on the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of society 
in all its forms, but as the only means of preserving our Constitution from its natural 
enemies, the sjiirit of sophistry, the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy 
of corruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence.^ 

(4) By the warm hospitality he is known to have extended to the 
subject of a national university whenever introduced. 

That he did not directly and explicitly recommend the establishment 
of such an institution was manifestly because he deemed the time and 
circumstances unpropitious and did not wish to make a fruitless attemj)t. 

XXVII. Washington's last will and testament, July 9, 1799: 

It has always been a source of serious regret with me to see the youth of these 
United States sent to foreign countries for the purpose of education, often before 
their minds were formed, or they had imbibed any adequate ideas of the hapj^iuess 
of their own; contracting too frequently principles unfriendly to republican govern- 
ment, and to the true and genuine liberties of mankind ; which, thereafter, are rarely 
overcome. For these reasons it has been my ardent wish to see a plan devised on a 
liberal scale, which would have a tendency to spread systematic ideas through all 
the parts of this rising emi)ire, thereby to do away local attachments and State prej- 

' American State Papers, No. 91. "Annals, 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1585. 



42 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

uclices, so far as the nature of things would, or indeed ought to, admit, from our 
national councils. Looking anxiously forward to the accomplishment of so desira- 
ble an object as this is (in my estimation), my mind has not been able to contemplate 
any plan more likely to effect the measure, than the establishment of a university in 
a central part of the United States, to which the youths of fortune and talents from 
all parts thereof might be sent for the completion of their education in all the 
branches of polite literature ; in arts and sciences, in acquiring knowledge in the 
principles of politics and good government, and (as a matter of infinite importance, 
in my judgment) by associating with each other, and forming friendships in juve- 
nile years, be enabled to free themselves m a proper degree from those local prejudices 
and habitual jealousies which have just been mentioned, and which, when carried 
to excess, are never failing sources of disquietude to the public mind, and preg- 
nant of mischievous consequences to this country : under these impressions, so fully 
dilated, >^ * * 

I give and bequeath in perpetuity the fifty shares ("value, $500 each) which I hold 
in the Potomac Company (under the aforesaid acts of the legislature of Virginia) 
toward the endowment of a university to be established in the District of Colum- 
bia under the auspices of the General Government, if that Government should in- 
cline to extend a fostering hand toward it; and until such a seminary is established 
and the funds arising on these shares shall be required for its support, my further 
desire is that the profit accruing therefrom shall, whenever dividends are made, be 
laid out in purchasing stock in the Bank of Columbia, or some other bank at the 
discretion of my executors, or by the Treasurer of the United States for the time 
being, under the direction of Congress; and the dividends proceeding from the pur- 
chase of such stock is to be invested in more stock, and so on until a sum adequate 
to the accomplishment of this object is obtained. ' 

Would it not be a very proper thing for the Congress of the United 
States, as the fiduciary of so sacred a trust, to institute without further 
delay an inquiry into the whole subject of what has become of the prop- 
erty interests thus committed to its keeping'? And in case it should be 
found impracticable to recover what has thus been lost through neglect, 
could the Government justly do less than to make it good, both the 
principal and the compound interest enjoined, by according such ag- 
gregate sum as a part of what will be required as a foundation for the 
university so wisely planned by Washington "? 

XXA^III. The memorial of Samuel Blodget, presented to the Con- 
gress of the United States Monday, January 10, 1803, as x)ublished by 
himself in Economica : 

Mr. Van Ness presented a representation from Samuel Blodget on the subject of a 
national universitj'^, as follows : 

The memorial of Samuel Blodget, late supervisor of the city of Washington, rep- 
resents, that owing his appointment chiefly to his zeal in forming several ijrobation- 
ary plans for a national university, he conceived it an indispensable duty, after the 
death of Washington, to follow the commanding advice and noble example of the 
common father of his country, so irresistibly portrayed in his farewell address, 
and in the clause of his will annexed to his liberal donation therefor. In thus call- 
ing, most respectfully, the attention of your honorable body to this part of the will 
of Washington, he fulfills a promise made in behalf of more than one thousand sub- 
scribers to the same object, whose respectable names accomj)any this memorial, with 

1 Sparks, i, 572. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 43 

a request that a committee may be appointed to consider what portion of the public 
lots, and of lands in the western territory of the United States, shall be appropriated 
by Congress to this important institution, in addition to the contents of either of 
the sites already contemplated therefor within the city of Washington, by Wash- 
ington himself, and by the commissioners thereof. And further, to consider the 
expediency (should it comport with the monumental plan to be adopted) of erecting 
the statue of 1783, or, in lieu tlieref, any appropriate and characteristic equestrian 
statue of the original founder of the national university, as a beautiful centerpiece 
for the entire plan, to be stirrounded by halls and colleges as they may be built in 
succession by the fund to which the whole people of America are now so liberally 
and honorably contributing by voluntary subscriptions from Maine to Georgia, in- 
clusive, thus virtually following an ancient custom of the original Americans, 
when men, women, and children all carried a stone to the monumental pile of a be- 
loved chief. 

It is humbly conceived that no further aid will be necessary for your honorable 
body to give till in your wisdom it may be deemed proper to follow the sublime and 
prophetic advice of Washington, and to assume the entire direction of the most im- 
portant object ever contemplated in the united efforts of all parties, persuasions, 
and classes of the American people, under a firm belief that the governmental plan 
and synopsis thereof will be maturely considered and wisely adapted to promote the 
views of the sage and provident Washington, namely, "to do away with local attach- 
ments and State prejudices, as far as the nature of things would or indeed ought to 
admit, from our national councils;" and, in short, to promote a true amor pairia', as 
well as the advancement of new arts and universal science, in all useful knowledge, 
while "our youth, by associating with each other for these pu^'poses, and forming 
friendships in their juvenile years, will free themselves from those narrow local 
prejudices which, when carried to excess, are never-failing sources of disquiet to the 
public mind and itregnant of the most mischievous consequentkes to this country." 

Such are the principles under which this sublime institution, founded by Washing- 
ton, and indubitably the best monument to his memory, is now rapidly progress- 
ing, to the immortal honor of the American name; nor does it require uncommon in- 
spiration to foretell, that so long as it shall continue true that parents are naturally 
attached to the most amiableof their offspring, so long will the founders throughout 
the Union, themselves and their posterity, delight to preserve a noble fabric, which 
in itself will unite the most sublime points that can with reason interest a generous, 
industrious, and an enlightened people, and equally endear them to their conntry 
and to each other. And so long as the divine principles that gave birth and strength 
to the infancy of the university may continue, so long by turning the tide of emi- 
gration in search of learning shall the American character be the pride and boast of 
the liberal and learned of all nations and the dread of every foe to human excel- 
lence. 

A synopsis for the university, uniting with it a plan for a free college, adopting 
and combining therewith the interest of the existing seminaries throughout the 
Union, accompany this memorial, together with descriptions or duplicates of several 
monumental plans, which will remain before the present committee of subscribers 
till Congress may think proper to assume the entire direction of this object, in con- 
formity with the ardent wishes and earnest advice so irresistibly enforced by Wash- 
ington. 1 

XXIX. The memorial of Samuel Blodget, presented to the House of 
Representatives on December 23, 1805, and thus referred to in the an- 
nals of Congress: 

A memorial was received from Samuel Blodget, representing that subscriptions for 
a university at Washington have already been made to the number of eighteen 

1 Economica, Appendix, p. xii. 



44 A NATiOI^AL UNIVERSITY. 

thousand and a sum received amounting to $30,000, and requesting Congress to des- 
ignate the site, with the lots or lands that may he intended therefor, and to grant 
such further patronage as they may think proper, i 

Eefereuce of tlie memorial was made to a select committee of fiv^e, 
whose report appears not to have been submitted. 

XXX. The earnest efforts of Minister John Barlow for the founding, 
by Congress, of a great university, as shown-^ 

(1) By his letters to President Jefferson and others, while represent- 
ing our country at the court of France. 

(2) By his "Prospectus of a N^ational Institution to be established in 
the United States," which opens with these words : 

The project for erecting a university at the seat of the Federal Government is 
brought forward at a happy moment and on liberal iirinciples. We may therefore 
reasonably hope for an extensive endowment from the mxmificence of individuals 
as well as from GrOA^erument itself. This expectation will naturally lead us to en- 
large our ideas on the subject, and to give a greater scope to its practical operation 
than has usually been contemplated in institutions of a similar nature. 

Two distinct objects, which in other countries have been kept asunder, may and 
ought to be united; they are both of great national importance, and by being em- 
braced in the same institution they will aid each other in their acquisition. These 
are the advancement of knowledge by associations of scientific men and the dis- 
semination of its 'rudiments by the instruction of youth. * * * xhe leading- 
principle of uniting these two branches of improvement in one institution, to be ex- 
tended upon a scale that will render it truly national, requires some development. 

We find ourselves in possession of a country so vast as to lead the mind to antici- 
pate a scene of social intercourse and interest unexampled in the experience of man- 
kind. This territory presents and will present such a variety of productions, natural 
and artificial, such a diversity of connections abroad, and of manners, habits, and pro- 
pensities at home, as will create a strong tendency to diverge and separate the views 
of those who shall inhabit the different regions within our limits. It is most essen- 
tial to the happiness of the people and to the preservation of their republican prin- 
ciples that this tendency to a separation should be overbalanced by superior motives 
to a harmony of sentiment, that they may habitually feel that community of interest 
on which their federal system is founded. This desirable object is to be attained, 
not only by the operations of the Government in its several departments, but by those 
of literature, sciences, and arts. The liberal sciences are in their nature republican; 
they delight in reciprocal communion; they cherish fraternal feelings and lead to a 
freedom of intercourse, combined with the restraints of society, whicb contribute 
together to our improvement.^ 

(3) By his preparation of a bill to establish such an institution; which 
bill was introduced in the Senate by Mr. Logan, of Philadelphia, in 
1806, and by him reported to the Senate without amendment. 

XXXI. The dedication by Samuel Blodget, in 1806, of the proceeds 
of his " Economica," the first work on political economy ever j)ublished 
in America, to " the benefit in trust for the free education fund of the 
university founded by George Washington in his last will and testa- 
ment." ^ 

^Annals, 9th Congress, 1st session, vol. i, p. 301. 

2 Origin of the National Scientific and Educational Institu.tious in the United 
States, by Dr. G. Brown Goode, p. 85. 
3 Economica, p. 2. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 45 

XXXII, Tlie fnrtlier advocacy of Saimiel Blod^'ot, in ^^Efonomica," 
first piiblisbed in 1806, and repnltlislied in 1810, from which the fol- 
lowing j)assaj^e8 are taken : ^ 

Aft(?r a second visit to Europe the writer returned in 1791, and informed President 
Washington of the plans he had attenij)ted, from the best points only of the ancient 
and modern cities of the old world and adapted to his views, for a federal heart or 
CAi'iTOL for tliis country. But his views for tlie university Avere wliat lie most prized, 
designed in part at The Hague and completed at Oxford, where he had all the uni- 
versities of ancient and modern times to guide his pencil. From these he borrowed 
and rejected agreeably to th« opinions of the best informed friends he could meet, 
in order that no childish bias for his own questionable taste might by any means 
prevent the linal success of the important ohject in view. 

Again: 

That we shall soon have a national university fliere is now the greatest reason to 
hope, since many gentlemen who had read only of some objectionable institutions in 
Euroi»e, and who coneeived we should of course imitate them, are now fully convinced 
that they were wholly mistaken; hence many members of Congress have contrib- 
uted to augment the fund of Washington, on finding that this national institu- 
tion was intended both to give additional stability to the Union, and yet to assist in 
the preservation of the independence of each individual State seminary ; and that, in- 
stead of interfering with the minor schools, it was to have nothing to do with them; 
that, instead of controlling and liumlding the State colleges,it was to contribute to their 
indepeudencj^ and to increase their importance, inasmuch as a principal controllin"' 
power over the most commanding features of the university might be vested with 
the princi2)als of the State seminaries. 

The injuries complained of by some writers, from the too independent situations, 
by the too great salaries and too secure hold of their durable places in the perma- 
nent officers of Europe, will no doubt be avoided in ours, and everything done to 
make the univei'sity not only an epitome to correspeud and harmonize always with 
the principles of our Government and Union, but highly conducive to the preserva- 
tion of that freedom and independence possessed by all classes of the people com- 
posing our American commonwealth. 

And again: 

Although our Washington had nothing nearer his heart, after the completion of 
our independence, than a federal city and a central university, as he felt a diffidence 
when the question for the republican form for the university arose in his mind, lest 
it might militate with the prejudices of those who were educated at aristocratical 
seminaries, and thereby fail from formidable opposition, he nevertheless recom- 
mended the attention of Congress, in two instances, to this object, in his sjieeches 
while President of the United States. 

Eeferring to Washington's confident expectation that his own wishes 
and bequest would inspire Congress to action, he further says: 

If no aid from Congress or any other source had followed this noble cluiUange of 
Washington, his donation, at compound interest, would in twelve years have o-iven 
$50,000, and in twenty-four years $100,000. At this period one of the colleges of 
the university might have been erected and endowed, and yet a part of the surplus 
might remain at compound interest for the completion of the whole design. 

XXXIII. The efforts of Col. John P. Van Xess, president of the 
Branch Bank of the United States at Washington, of George Washing- 

'Economica, p. 23; Aiipcndix, pp. in-x. 



46 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

ton Custis, James Davidson, and many other distinguislied citizens of 
Washington, early in the present century, and especially during the 
the administration of Jefferson ; efforts so earnest and practical that, 
with the proper cooperation of Congress, they would certainly have re- 
sulted in the beginning of the j)roposed university under auspices that 
would have insured its success. 

In further illustration of these efforts, the following extracts from 
the writings of Mr. Blodget are offered : 

The memorial was accompanied by apian of the equestrian statue of Washington, 
surrounded by halls and colleges regularly arranged, the whole to be styled ''Wash- 
ingtonia", or, ''The Monument to Washington." 

It was also stated in handbills that, in conformity with the nomination and ap- 
pointment at the first meeting of the subscribers, Samuel Blodget had accepted the 
office of secretary, and the cashier of the Branch Bank of the United States, James 
Davidson, esquire, that of general treasurer to the subscribers. * * * 

It is left to the discretion of a majority of the trustees, at any of their meetings, to 
commence one of the buildings on such ground as they may deem proper after con- 
sulting the President of the United States, with due deference to his opinion in aid 
of the views of Washington and of the entire plan of his subscribiug followers. 

It shall be the duty of the secretary to make known, at discretion, to all the friends 
of science in Europe and universally, that presents are admitted from any quarter of 
the globe, either to the museum or library, and that foreigners (although not ad- 
mitted in the list of contributors to the monumental pile in honor of the Father of His 
Country) may, nevertheless, contribute to the endowment of the university in any 
way consistent with the liberal and honorable views of an institution at which the 
youth of all nations are to be admitted on equal terms, excepting only in the provi- 
sion for the free education of indigent youth of genius who intend to remain citi- 
zens of the United States. ^ 

XXXIV. President Jefferson's correspondence with Albert Gallatin, 
Secretary of the Treasury, in N'ovember, 1806, concerning his draft of 
the annual message to be delivered in December following, from which 
it appears that he then had two important projects in mind: First, the 
establishment and endowment of a national university, and, secondly, 
an amendment to the Constitution exi^licitly defining the powers of the 
Federal Government in matters of education and internal improvements, 
so as to place both of those great interests beyond the possibility of a 
question. 

It further ajipears that Mr. Jefferson had framed his message with a 
view to the very certain establishment of a national university by the 
Fourth Congress, and the appropriation of money therefor out of the 
general fund so soon as the condition of the Treasury would warrant it. 

The letter of Xovember 14 to Mr. Gallatin dealt with questions of the 
army, the tax on salt, and the university, his comments on the last- 
named i)oint being as follows : 

3. The University. This proposition will pass the States in all the winter of 1807-08, 
and Congress will not meet, and consequently can not act on it, till the winter of 
1808-'09. The Florida debt will therefore be paid off before the university can call 
for anything. 2 

lEconomica, Appendix, pj). xiii, xiv. * Writings of Gallatin, Vol. i, p. 313. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 47 

XXXV. The very practical letter of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of 
the Treasury, to President Jefferson, on November 10, 1800, the same 
being in answer to Mr. Jefferson's of the 14th, and consisting of sug- 
gestions concerning the several points embraced in the forthcoming 
message to Congress, wherein he dealt with the national university 
passage, sentence by sentence, in the following critical manner: 

University. — "They cannot, tlieu, Ix^ applied to the extinguishment of debt, etc." 
I would wish that between the words then and he the following should be inserted: 
"without a nioditication assented to by the public creditors "' ; or that the idea should 
be inserted in some other way in the paragraph. 

It will be consistent with the opinion expressed that the extinguishment, etc., 
and liberties, etc., are the most desirable of all objects, and Congress have now under 
consideration a plan for the purpose, which I submitted last session, and was post- 
poned because reported too late by the Committee of Ways and Means. 

Again, under the head "On Fortifications, etc.", he says: 

The surpluses, indeed, which will arise, etc. [Quoting Mr. Jefferson]. It may boob- 
served on whatever relates to the connection between these surpluses and the sup- 
posed iinproA^ements and university, first, that, war excepted, the surpluses will 
certainly and under any circumstances — even Avhile the debt will be in a course of 
payment — be, after January 1, 1809, sufficient for any possible improvement. I have 
no doubt that they will amount to at least two millions a year; and, if no modifica- 
tion in the debt takes place, to nearly five. Second, that it will take at least the 
two intervening years to obtain an amendment for the laws designating improve- 
ments and make the arrangements preparatory to any large expense. Third, that 
the existing surpluses are at this moment sufficient for any university or national 
institution. 

But the whole of this part of the message rests on the supposition that a Ion"- time 
must elapse before we are ready for any considerable expenditure for improvements, 
and that we would not be able to meet even that for the university before the time 
which must elapse in obtaining an amendment. 

The general scope of this part of the message seems also to give a preference to the 
university over general improvements ; and it must not be forgotten, apart from any 
consideration of the relative importance, that the last proposition may probably be 
popular and that the other will quite certainlj'^ be unpopular. * * * 

It appears to me, therefore, that the whole of that iiart from the words "the sur- 
jiluses indeed," etc., to the words "to which our funds may become equal," should 
undergo a revisal, introducing in the same the substance of the last paragraph of 
the ninth page^ respecting a donation of lands.' 

[The message will show that the last recommendation prevailed for the most part. 
But this fact counts for nothing against the exceeding liberality and farsightedness 
of Mr. Jefferson, who had planned an appeal for money appropriations; nor indeed 
against his high courage, for that was in the youth and poverty of the nation, when 
a million seemed an enormous sum, and the people of the country generally had not 
only not become accustomed to vast expenditures for education, but had not come to 
even an appreciation of the priceless value of science and learning.] 

XXXYI. The sixth annual message of President Thomas Jefferson, 
delivered on December 2, 1800, containing these words : 

Education is here placed among the articles of public care ; not that it would be 
proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which 

» Writings of Gallatin, Vol. 1, pp. 318, 310. 



48 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

manages so mncli better all the concerns to which it is equal, bnt a imblic institu- 
tion can alone supply those sciences which, though rarely called for, are yet neces- 
sary to complete the circle, all the j)arts of which contribute to the improvement of 
the country, and some of them to its preservation. * * * The pres-^.nt consider- 
ation of a national establishment for education particularly is rendered proper by 
this circumstance also, that if Congress, approving the proposition, shall yet think 
it more eligible to found it on a donation of lands, they have it now in their i>ower 
to endow it with those which Avill be among the earliest to produce the necessary 
income. This foundation would have the advantage of being independent in war, 
which may suspend other improvements by requiring for its own purposes the re- 
sources destined for them.i 

! XXXTII. The second annual message of President James Madison, 
delivered December 5, 1810, embracing these words jl 

While it is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be perma- 
nently^ a free people, and while it is evident that the means of diffusing and improv- 
ing useful knowledge from so small a proportion of the expenditures for national 
purposes, I can not presume it to be unreasonable to invite your attention to the ad- 
vantages of superadding to the means of education provided by the several States 
a seminary of learning instituted by the national legislature within the limits of 
their exclusive jurisdiction, the expense of whicli might be defrayed or reimbursed 
out of the vacant grouuds which have accrued to the nation within these limits. 
Such an institution, though local in its legal character, would be universal in its 
beneficial effects. 

V'Sy enlightening the opinions, by expanding the patriotism, and by assimilating 
the principles, the interests, and the manners of those who might resort to this tem- 
ple of science, to be redistributed in due time through every portion of the com- 
munity, sources of jealoixsy and prejudice would be diminished, the features of 
national character would be multiplied and greater extent given to social harmony. 
But above all a well-constituted seminary in the center of the nation is recommended 
by the consideration that the additional instruction emanating from it would con- 
tribute not less to strengthen the foundations than to adorn the structure of our free 
and happy system of government. 2- 

C" XXXVIII. The favorable opinion of the committee of the House of 
Eepresentatives, to whom was referred, on December 10, 1810, that part 
of the President's message which related to the establishment of a semi- 
nary of learning" by the national legislature; the report of which com- 
mittee as presented by Samuel L. Mitchell, chairman, while raising 
the questions of authority to appropriate money for that purpose, and 
of practicability also in view of the then slender resources clearly avail- 
able, nevertheless set forth the importance of such an institution : 

In obedience to the order of the House the committee has duly considered the im- 
portant matter referred. An university or institution for the communication of 
knowledge in the various departments of literature and science presents to the mind 
at one view subjects of the most pleasing contemplation. 

To a free people it would seem that a seminary in Avhich the culture of the heart 
and of the understanding should be the chief object would be one of the first guards 
of their privileges and a leading object of their care. 

Under this conviction the patriotic spirit of Washington led him more than once 
to recommend in his speeches to Congress such an undertaking. He even be- 

1 Annals, 9th Cong., 2d soss., p. 14. ^^unals, 11th Cong., 3d sess., p. 14. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 49 

queatluMl a legacy to the national university, which he persuatled himself would at 
some future day be brouj^ht into being. Two other Presidents have subsequently 
presented the subject to the Legislature as worthy of special consideration. 

Authorities so respectable in favor of a ])rojcct so desirable carry great weight. 

A central school at the seat of the General Government, darting its rays of intel- 
lectual light or roUiug the flood of useful information throughout the land, could 
not fail to make a stroug impression. A noble and enlarged institution may be con- 
ceived to impart to its pupils the most excellent instruction, and, by projierly quali- 
fying persons to be teachers and i^rofessors, to introduce an uniform system of educa- 
tion among the citizens. » » ^ 

The Constitution does not warrant the creation of such a corporation by any ex- 
press provision. But * * * under the right to legislate exclusively over the 
District wherein the United States have fixed their seat of government Congress 
may erect a university at any place within the 10 miles square ceded by Maryland 
and Virginia. This can not be doubted. * * * | 

The message before the committee proposes, however, the institution of a semi- 
nary of learning by the national legislature within the limitsof their exclusive juris- 
diction, the expense of Avhich may bo defrayed or reimbursed out of the vacant 
groimds which have accrued to the nation within these limits. On inquiry into the 
value of these public lots they fall so far short of the sunr requisite for the object 
that if there was no constitutional impediment, they could not be relied upon on 
account of the smallness and unj)roductiveness of the capital they eml)race.' 

XXXIX. President Madison's seventh annual message, delivered 
December 15, 1815, Avherein lie said : 

The present is a favorable season, also, for bringing into view the establishment 
of a national seminary of learning within the District of Columbia, and with means 
drawn from the property therein, subject to the authority of the General Govern- 
ment. Such an institution claims the patronage of Congress as a monument of that 
solicitude for the advancement of knowledge without which the blessings of liberty 
can not be fully enjoyed or long iireserved ; as a model of instruction in the formation 
of other seminaries; as a nursery of enlightened pre^'eptors; as a central resort of 
youth and genius from every part of their country, dift'using on their return ex- 
amples of those national feelings, those liberal sentiments, and those congenial 
manners which contribute cement to our Union and strength to the political fiibric 
of which that is the foundation. - 

XL. President Madison's last annual message, December 3, 1816: 

The importance which I have attached to the establishment of a university Avithin 
this District on a scale and for objects worthy of the American nation, induces me 
to renew my recommendation of it to the favorable consideration of Congress, and 
I particularly invite again their attention to the expediency of exercising their ex- 
isting powers, and where necessary of resorting to the prescribed mode of enlarg- 
ing them, in order to effectuate a common system of roads and canals, such as will 
have the effect of drawing more closely together every part of our country by pro- 
moting intercourse and improvements and by increasing the share of every part in 
the common stock of national prosijerity. ■' 

I XLI. Eeport to the House of Representatives, submitted by Mr. 
R. H. Wilde in behalf of the committee to whom was referred so much 
of the President's message as relates to the subject of a national uni- 

'Ex. Docs., 11th Cong., 3d sess., p. 975. 
^Annals 14tli Cong., 1st sess., j). 17. 
sjd., 2d sess., p. 14. 
S. Mis. 222 .t 



50 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

versity. Kead December 11, 1816, and, witli an accomxDanying bill for 
tlie establishment of a national university, referred to a Committee of 
the Whole House on December 12 5 which report, with accompanying 
estimates, is as follows : 

The committee of the House of Representatives, to Avhom was referred so mvich of 
the President's message as relates to tlie subject of a national university, report to 
the House, as the result of their deliberations, a bill for the erection and endoAvment 
of such an institution. \ 

The committee, pursuant to usual forms might, perhaj)s, without impropriety, re- 
gard this a sufficient performance of their duty, and after presenting the bill without 
comment, have left it to find its appropriate place among others, and to receive or 
be denied consideration, according to the ojdnion entertained of its consequence and 
urgency. 

But the number of communications relative to thesubjectwhich, though they have 
received attention, seem to have escaped it becaiise they have not been definitely 
acted on, may possibly expose the House to a censure more serious than that of 
merely neglecting the successive recommendations of several successive chief magis- 
trates — a censure as injurious as unjust, yet not unbecoming that body to prevent 
by making as soon as x)ossible some disposition of a question that ought to be de- 
termined on account of its frequent occurrence, even though it should not otherwise 
be thought particularly interesting. * * * 

Your committee therefore have ventured to suggest some of the reasons which 
recommend the present as a favorable time for investigating, and perhaps, also, 
adopting, the plan they have proposed. 

Among these, the prosperous state of our finances, leaving a large unapx)ropriatcd 
surplus, the probability of a long continued peace, the flourishing condition of our 
Capital, and the facility with which a jiortion of the public property within it might 
now be advantageously disposed of, so as at once to increase the convenience of the 
city and support the proposed institution, may fairly be enumerated. 

Besides, the information heretofore collected has enabled the committee to report 
at an early period, and it is believed that the i^resent session, though inevitably a 
short one, Avill not present so many objects of great difficulty or deep interest as 
entirely to exclude others of a more tranquil and less obtrusive character to Avhich it 
is possible a portion of time might be profitably devoted. 

r The acquisition of a scientific and literary reputation not unworthy of their naval 
and military renown can never be beneath the ambition of a peoiile, since the most 
durable of all glory is tliat of exalted intellect. The world is still a willing cai^tive 
to the spells of ancient genius, and the rivalry of modern empires will be perpetuated 
by their arts and their learning — the preservers of that fame which arms alone may 
indeed win, but can never keep. 

Asy measure which contributes, however scantily, to give American literature and 
science a rank and name among mankind, can not, therefore, be regarded with in- 
difference by our citizens, and every eftort toward that end must be witnessed at the 
present moment with universal satisfaction, since it will present the interesting 
spectacle of a young nation bending its whole strength to the pursuit of true great- 
ness, and anxious to emulate all that is amiable in peace as well as all that is noble 
in war. 

That the institution contemplated will have a hajipy influence on the harmony and 
welfare of our country and the unity of our national character has been often sup- 
posed, and your committee feel inclined to anticipate effects no less happy from its 
operation on the genius of our people. If America's invention, unassisted as it has 
been, already excites the astonishment of Europe, what may not be expected from it 
when aided and encouraged? And why should not aid and encouragement be yielded 
by institutions like the present, founded and endowed by the munificence of the State I 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 51 

In our own day we have seen tliciii work wonders in physical science, even when 
directed by a stern, jeah)us, and exacting government, which, while training the mind 
to be quick, dextrous, and daring, darkened its vision and circumscribed its flight. 
Is it here alon(s tbey would bo impotent, where no depth could be hidden from its 
glance, no height forbidden to its wing. 

But your committee, fearful of exhausting your patience, forbear to extend this re- 
port by arguments which it is easier to multiply than to withhold. For the same 
reason they refrain from answering objections which could be stated without in- 
jury; since in replying to them, force and perspicuity must be sacrificed to con- 
ciseness. Nor can such a course be required, when it is intended merely to present 
a geuei'al result, not the particular process of reasoning by which that result has 
been attained. Your committee, however, desire it to be understood that they have 
not declined examining any objection which occurred to them ; and though some 
have been found, which, it must be confessed, are not without difficulty, all are 
thought capable of a satisfactory answer. 

Under a conviction, therefore, that the means arc ample, the end desirable, the 
object fairly within the legislative powers of Congress, and the time a favorable one, 
your committee recommend the establishment of a national university, and have di- 
rected their chairman to submit a bill and estimates for that purpose. { 

EsUmates of the value of lots and squares helouijing to the United States, as furnished hy 
communications from tJie superintendent of the city. 

Ft)ur tltousand building lots of 5,265 square feet each, and about 2,000-foot 

front on the waters of the Potomac River, Eastern Branch, valued at $750, 000 

Sijuares 1 to 6 proposed to 1)0 laid off' into building lots, containing in the 

whole, 816,000 square feet, or 155 standard lots, valued at 200 000 

But the latter amount is the only one which it is supposed could be speed- 
ily utilized. 

Estimate of the expense of buildings for the national university, on a plan 
susceptible of oxteusion, but calculated for the present to answer for 100 
persons '. 200,000 

Mr. Wilde's coinuiittee also presented a bill for the establishment of 
a National University, as follows: 

Be it enacted, etc., That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, au- 
thorized and required to cause to be surveyed and laid' off into building lots such 
part as he shall think proper of the ground reserved of the United States in the city 
of Washington, and to cause the same to be sold at such times and places and in 
such proportions and under such regulations as he shall prescribe; and the proceeds 
thereof, after defraying the charges of survey and sale, to be invested in such stocks 
or public securities as shall by him be deemed advisable; and the same, when so in- 
vested, and the dividends thereon arising, shall constitute a fund for the support of 
a national university^^ 

Skc. 2. And be it further enacted. That the President of the United States be, and 
he is hereby, authorized to cause to be erected, on such site within the District of 
Columbia as he shall elect, the buildings necessary for a national university; and 

for defraying the exi)ense thereof the sum of dollars is hereby ap[»ropriated, 

to be paid out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise ap- 
propriated by law. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and 
he is hereby, required to cause to be prepared and laid before Congress at its next 
session, a plan for the regulation and government of the said universitv-^ 



'Annals, 14th Cong., 2d sess., p. 257. 



52 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

Which bill was twice read and committed. 

ISTear the close of the session Mr. Wilde, chairman of the committee, 
having failed to secure proper consideration for the measure, himself 
moved and secured its indefinite postponement. 

XLII. Support of the general proposition by the Hon. Charles H. 
Atherton, of New Hami^shire, who, seeing thafc there were doubts in the 
minds of some as to the powers of Congress under the Constitution, on 
the 12th of December, 1816, oifered for consideration a resolution pro- 
viding for an amendment thereto, in the following words: 

The Congress shall have power to establish a national uuiversity.i 

The House, deeming such amendment unnecessary, decided against 
the consideration of the resolution by a vote of 86 to 54. 

r^XLIII. The efforts of Drs. Josiah Meigs, Edward Cutbush, Thomas 
Sewall, Thomas Law, Dr. Alexander Mc Williams, and of Judge William 
Cranch, who, having lost confidence in aid from Congress, avowedly 
went to work to realize the aspirations of Washington and his suc- 
cessors by founding, first, the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of 
Arts and Sciences in 1819, and, secondly, the Columbian College, at 
length incorporated in 1821. ^ 

XLIV. The introduction by Mr. Mark L. Hill, of Massachusetts, of 
the following resolution in the House of Kepresentatives, on the 23d 
of December, 1819 : 

Resolved, That a committee he appointed to inquire into the expediency of estab- 
lishing a National University within the District of Columbia, and that the com- 
mittee have leave to report by bill or otherwise. ^ 

Mr. Hill said, in introducing his motion, that the adoption of this 
measure had been recommended by each of our illustrious presidents, 
and with the particular view among other things, to perpetuate the 
Union and form a national character. Whatever had this tendency he 
wanted to promote. The motion failed. 

XLV. The efforts of President Monroe, whose sympathy with the 
plans of Washington were often expressed, and who was glad to believe 
that Columbian College would in time become a national university, 
as appears from his letter of March 28, 1820, in which he says: 

The establishment of the institution within the Federal district, in the presence 
of Congress and of all the departments of the Government, will secure to those who 
may be educated in it many important advantages, among which are the opportunity 
to hear the debates in Congress and in the Supreme Court. * *f * if it receives 
hereafter the proper encouragement, it can not fail to be eminently useful to the 
nation. 

XL VI. The action of Congress in this general interest — 

(1) By granting to the Columbian Institute the use of rooms in the 



lAanals, 14th Cong., 2nd sess., p. 268. '^Annals, 16th Cong., 1st sess., p. 780. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 53 

Capitol, lis well as the use of the Hall of Representatives for the anunal 
meetings. 

(2) By giving- grounds to said institute for a botanical garden, in 

XL VII. John Quincy Adams's no less persistent than brilliant cham- 
])ionship of science and learning as demanding the encouragement of 
Congress, and the strong moral support given by him to the National 
University in both messages and speeches; as, for example, in his first 
message, 1825 which contains this eloquent and touching reference to 
the efforts of Washington in that behalf: 

Among the first, perhaps the very first, instrumeiits for the improvement of the 
condition of men is knowledge; and to the acquisition of much of the knowledge 
adapted to the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human life, public institu- 
tions and seminaries of learning are useful. So convinced of this was the first of 
my predecessors in this office, now first in the memory, as he was first in the hearts, 
of liis countrymen, that once and again, in his addresses to the Congresses with 
whom lie cooperated in the public service, he earnestly recommended the establish- 
ment of seminaries of learning, to prepare for all the emergencies of peace and war, 
a national university, and a military academy. With respect to the latter, had he 
lived to the present day, in turning his eyes to the institution at West Point he 
would have enjoyed the gratification of his most earnest Avislics. But in surveyino- 
the city which has been honored with his name he would have seen the spot of earth 
which he had destined and bequeathed to the use and benefit of his country as the 
site for a university still bare and barren. -^ 

XLVIII. The action of the United States Senate on Thursday, 
December 20, 1825, in passing the following resolution, upon motion of 
Mr. Bobbins, of Rhode Island, namely: 

Ecsolvcd, That so much of the President's message as relates to a National Univer- 
sity be referred to a select committee to consist of members, that said commit- 
tee be instructed to report upon the expediency of such an institution, and if deemed 
by them expedient, to report the principles on which it ought to be established and a 
plan of organization that will embody those principles. ^ 

XLIX. The efforts, in 1820 to 1827, of the eloquent Dr. Horace Hol- 
ley, D. D., president of Transylvania University, Kentucky, whose 
views and earnest advocacy of them were made the subject of eulogy 
by his biographer. 

L. The no less zealous efforts of Dr. Charles Caldwell, professor in 
Transylvania University, especially by means of his biography of Dr. 
Holley, published in 1828, in which he says of him: 

For the better and more certain accomplishment of thio latter purjiose [to promote 
progressiveness in education and uniformity throughout the country], he was an 
advocate for the erection of a national university and the arrangement of schools on 
a federal plan, analogous to that of our political institutions. He was an advocate, 
indeed, for the federalizing of everything suscejitible of such modification, with a 

'Annals, 18th Cong., 1st sess., p. 787. 

«Cong. Debates, vol. ii, part 2, 19th Cong., 1st sess.. Appendix, p. 6. 

•Cong. Debates, vol. ii, part 1, 19th Cong., 1st sess., p. 23. 



54 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

view to the procTnction and confirmation of federal feelings, practices, and habits, to 
strengthen throughout the country the federal and national bond and aid in perpet- 
uating the union of the States. F'or he believed that as concerns the liermanency of 
that union, the stability and endurance of a moral tie, the result of education, social 
intercourse, early friendships formed at school by leading characters, and a consist- 
ent interchange of kind offices, the whole cemented and strengthened by a liberaliz- 
ing and humanizing spirit of letters derived from a central and common source, are 
much more to be relied on than those of a connection exclusively political. 

As a further reason for advocating the establishment of a national university, he 
believed that in the nature of things great literary institutions are best calculated for 
the production of great men, at least of accomplished scholars and pupils distinguish ed 
for attainments in science. For, morally and intellectually, as well as physically, 
it is the law of creation that everything begets in its own likeness, ^ * * j^ 
national university, therefore, being necessiirily a grand and magnificent institution? 
on the same scale must be the educated men it would regularly send forth to partici- 
pate in the management of national affairs and shed a luster on their native country. 

His views of the important influence of a great national institution did not stop here. 
Considering it as operating on a much more extended scale and covering a field of 
wider compass, he duly appreciated the effects it would produce on our literary and 
scientific reputation as a people, in foreign countries. He believed that it would 
tend much more certainly and effectually than any other measure to secure to us, 
in that species of reputation, the same ascendency which we are hastening to acquire 
in arts and arms, and which we have already acquired in practical legislation and 
diplomatic policy. 

LI. The action of OongTeSvS in appropriating $25,000 cash to Colum- 
bian College, with the ai)proval of President Jackson, in 1832, and 
that, too, on account of the generally acknowledged " utility of a cen- 
tral literary establishment", and of the failure hitherto to make any 
more distinct recognition of the recommendations of Washington and 
of other Presidents.^ ; 



It should be said in this connection that during the years between 
1849 and the opening of the late civil war there was a temporary re- 
vival of the old demand for a national university. The pressing need 
of such an institution was a common theme of conversation among the 
leading educators, scholars, and scientists of the time. It found advo- 
cacy ui)on the rostrum and in the public prints. Members of various 
organizations made it the subject of public discourses, and at one time, 
as will hereafter aj^pear, something was done toward founding a na- 
tional university at Albany, ISTew York. 

That its advocates did not press the thought of a national university 
at Washington was, perhaps, because at that time Washington was little 
more than a mere political center, and a not very attractive one at that, 
and because sectionalism held such despotic sway as to preclude the 
thought of governmental action in that behalf. But since they who orig- 
inated and cooperated in the movement earnestly contended for the main 
idea of a true university that should be national in character and in- 
fluence, and since, moreover, nearly, if not literally, all of them twenty 

1 Register Debates in Cong., Yol 8, part 3, p. 3210. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 55 

years later fully aecoiitod and indorsed tlio proposition of a national in- 
stitution to be estal)lis]ied in tlie national capital, witli a sutticient endow- 
ment secured to it by Congress, it seems j)roper tliat place sliould be 
accorded to them in this paper. 

The subject appears to have been first publicly broached at Albany 
by Henry J. Eaymond, in the State legislature of 1849. Finally, by 
agreement between leading educators, scholars, scientists, and states- 
men, in the year 1851 a i)reliminaryarrangementwas made for the organi- 
zation of a university of the highest type, as the same was then appre- 
hended, and in accordance with the following governing principles: 

The coucentratiou of the ablest })Onsib]e teaching force for each aud all the depart- 
ments of human learning. 

The utmost freedom of students to pursue any i)refcrred branch or branches of 
study. 

Support by the State, for a period of two years, of one student from each assembly 
district, to be chosen by means of open competitive examinations, so conducted by 
competent examiners as to exclude all considerations but that of real merit; such 
public support to be had, however, only after at least fifteen departments had been 
so endowed as to command the best professional talent the country could afford. 

The movement awakened so much interest among' distinguished 
educators that conditional engagements are said to have been made 
with such men as Profs. Agassiz, Peirce, Guyot, Hall, Mitcbell, and 
Dana. 

The efforts in this behalf first resulted in the passage on April 17, 
1851, of an act to incorporate the " University of Albany." Some forty- 
eight persons of that city were named as trustees, with power to create 
departments of medicine and law, and such others as might be deemed 
desirable. The institution was authorized to confer degrees and was 
made subject to the visitation of the regents. In accordance with tbe 
general plan, on April 21, 1851, a law school was organized, with Thomas 
"W. Olcott, president of the board of trustees; Hon. Greene C. Bronson, 
president of the faculty, and Ira Harris, Amasa J. Parker, and Amos 
Dean as the other members. The first course of lectures was begunln 
the following December by Amos Dean. By a donation of land and 
by generous contributions from the faculty and private citizens, an 
excellent building, with considerable equipment, was in time erected. 
In 1873, upon the establislient of Union University, the Albany Law 
School was merged in that institution. 

Likewise an attempt was made in 1851 to establish a department of 
scientific agriculture, and lectures were announced upon geology, ento- 
mology, chemistry, and practical agriculture. A course on the ''con- 
nection of science and agriculture" was begun in January, 1852, by 
Prof. John F. Norton, of Yale College, at the opening of which, as re- 
ported by the Albany Evening Journal, he spoke of the need of a 
national university as follows : 

No one was of more advantage to community thnn the close, investigating student. 
He would assuredly bring forth something of value to the world. True science was 



56 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

always nsefa], nlways noble, always elevating. It was thus for tlie interest of 
everybody to encourage its advancement. We had done so but little yet. Our youth 
were compelled to cross the Atlantic to find the advantages they wished. There 
was no school among us where they could go and find all they desired. 

Subsequently, courses of lectures were also delivered by Prof. James 
Hall aud Dr. Goodly. 

In March, 1852, there was great activity at Albany among the friends 
of the proposed national university. Public meetings were held on the 
10th, 11th, and 12th in the Assembly Hall, attended by members of the 
legislature and addressed by distinguished gentlemen from difierent 
parts of the country, including Messrs. Hooper 0. Van Vorst, H. J. 
Hastings, Isaac Edwards, Judge Harris, and Samuel B. Euggles, Profs. 
William F. Phelps and Joseph Henry, and Bishop Alonzo Pot- 
ter. In order that the sentiments, purposes, and hopes cherished by 
leading citizens at that time may appear, extracts from the Journal's 
reports of some of the speeches then made, especially those of March 
11, are here introduced. 

From the speech of Eev. Dr. Kennedy: 

Now, there is an intellectual Mont Blanc as well as a physical, and there are 
multitudes of young men panting to ascend this mount. They come from every 
quarter of our country. * * « Where are they to find intellectual guides? 
* * * But further, the character of our political institutions demands that we 
should have greater facilities for education. These institutions rest upon tlie fun- 
damental principle that all men are born equal. This is a great practical principle 
with us, for we have no aristocracy here. ^ ^ * The road to eminence must be 
opened to the masses — equally open to all. There are no royal avenues; intellect 
must be the recommendation. *' * * We should encourage the desire and fur- 
nish the means by which to gratify the aspirations of those who wish to be master 
in whatever pursuit or calling they engage. 

There is another demand for such an institution. It seemed to him that there was 
a native energy in the American mind and character that asked for means for greater 
development than has been furnished. As a nation we are in our infancy; we have 
accompEshed much ; not by the means at hand, but by the energy we possess — by 
in'' jmitable perseverance. * * * American ingenuity and energy have done 
much and will yet do more. Let, then, this energy and genius be fostered. Give 
them facilities for improvement and you will see yet greater wonders. 

Prof. O. M. Mitchell, director of the Cincinnati Observatory: 

The question had been asked, was such a university needed? * * * jje thought 
it not requisite to argue this point, but would take it for granted that a necessity 
exists. He had about him a sort of devotion to his own country. He could not con- 
sent in his humble way to follow eternally the lead of others. Europe has pointed 
to us and said, "Behold, a nation of money-getters ! They understand how to gather 
the money and they hold it in a firm grasp." They say, "Where are your La Places, 
your Newtons, your Miltons, your Shakespeares?" 

Alas, we have not been able to answer these inquiries in a way to gratify our 
national ambition. * * * 

It was not contemplated to take young men whose minds are not trained, but after 
they have been trained, it is to open up to them a grand field of inquiry. He re- 
ferred to the great benefits conferred by European universities. There it was that 
you find concentrated everything that is truly glorious in science, emanating from 
the great emporium of knowledge. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 57 

From the address of Hon. Samuel B. Euggles, of New York City: 

For what was the theory in regard to public works ? Was it not they would lessen 
not ouly national but commercial and social inequalities; that they would place the 
poor by the side of the rich — inferior districts by the side of the superior; the agri- 
cultural by the side of the trading communities; and, so far as nature's laws would 
permit, would equalize the condition of all f 

We hold to a similar theoi-y in regard to education, and that it is its true aim and 
best effect to raise up the low, the helpless, the down-trodden, to lessen tlie iuequal- 
ities that prevail in the intellectual culture and condition of the i)eople, to remove 
or batter down the obstacles that retard tlie advancement of the sous of poverty and 
misfortune, and to place them side by side, on equal terms, and in fair and open 
competition with the favored sons of fortune. 

By a similar analogy wo hold that in education, as in public works, and in truth 
in all the great efforts of mankind, the secret of success is found in concentrating 
strength. * * * 

But here, just at this very point, we suddenly encounter a school of political phi- 
losophy — not very numerous, for, God be praised, the race is nearly extinct — whose 
great delight it is to proclaim aloud that the "world is governed too much", and 
that government has no right to do more than "protect a man in the possession of his 
Ufe,lihert\i, and 2yyopert}j, and mnst then stop" ! * * * 

Now, if this miserable doggerel were true, even to its letter, it would not be difficult 
to show that the protection of " property " itself would imperiously require ample 
and extended education as its only means of safety against ignorance, its deadliest 
enemy. But we descend to no such special pleading. We meet the proposition at 
once in its full extent and deny that any such limitation of the great blessing of 
human government, the greatest of all social blessings God has bestowed upon man, 
has any foundation or justification in experience, reason, or authority. We brand 
and denounce the whole doctrine as mischievous, cruel, and destructive — the diseased 
offspring of feeble minds and cankered hearts. * * * 

It is, then, this uuequaled variety, this imprecedented combination of intellectual 
strength, which is to impart to the university its distinguishing characteristic. 
Here the pupil of any taste and aim can select the subject he wishes to pursue, each 
and all to any extent he may desire. 

A good example of an institution like that we propose, made for the people and 
composed of people coming from the people, is furnished by what was ouce our sis- 
ter Republic of France. It was among the eai'liest results of the downfall of the 
royal power in 1792. The Polytechnic, then called the central school of Paris, was 
born and baptized in blood and slaughter, amid the most fearful spasms of the rev- 
olution; but it contained the one vital, all-important, all-possessing element of 
pupils collected by fiiir, free, open competition among the people. * * * 

We further contend that no State can afford that any one of its people shall need- 
lessly be deprived of any of his natural powers, or that those iiowers shall be lost 
through want of proper culture and development, and that in a merely economic 
view the State suffers positive pecuniary loss when any useful faculty is thus need- 
lessly neglected or suttered to lie dormant. 

It was in this light that the prudent and calculating but sagacious Dutchmen, 
ancestors of those who founded this goodly city of Albany, in which we are now 
standing, viewed this matter. It was in Holland — economical, industrious, thrifty, 
liberty-loving Holland — that learning was most highly valued. It was amid the 
sunken fens and marshes of the Rhine and the Vecht, holding fearful and unequal 
conflict with the ocean, that the hardy burghers, who sent forth the Rhinelanders 
and Van Vechtens to carry the virtues of their parent laws into another hemisphere, 
founded the cities where science loved to dwell. In the early days of their republic, 
while battling with the whole power of the Spanish crown, it fell to the arms of 



58 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

the city of Leyden — heroic Leyclen — to struggle for her new-born liberty through 
a siege attended by slaughter and famine and all the superadded sufferings and 
horrors which cruelty could afflict or courage endure. And what was the magnifi- 
cent answer of these gallant, far-seeing Dutchmen to their grateful stadtholdcr 
when he proffered them exemption from taxation as a reward for their matchless 
constancy and valor? Like their descendants, they loved their guilders, but they 
rejected the proffered boon; with a love of letters only exceeded by their love of 
country, to a man they exclaimed, ''Give us a university!" And thus the great uni- 
versity of Leyden came into the world, where for centuries it has stood and still 
stands, the proudest monument of Dutch courage and Dutch intelligence. From 
its ancient and honored halls hosts of illustrious men have gone forth to benefit and 
bless mankind. Need we do more than name Grotius, the jurist, whose exalted 
equity and transcendent genius, curbing the violence of war, has given law to the 
nations, or Boerhaave, the physician, whose world-wide fame, spreading far beyond 
the uttermost limits of Christendom, brought mighty potentates from Asia to ac- 
knowledge his consummate, unequaled skill? « * * 

My friends, let not such examples be lost. « * * Heaven has cast our favored 
lot in the early morning of our national existence; let us in grateful remembrance 
hand down to our descendants proof of our wise and provident regard in institutions 
deeply engrafted upon the affections of the people, and which shall brighten and 
adorn the coming days of our Eepublic, great and enduring seats of science, where 
learning and liberty, knowledge and virtue shall flourish side by side with law and 
order in ever-increasing vigor to the latest moment of time. 

Dudley Observatory, tlie tliird institution inaugurated as a part of 
tlie proposed national university, named after Charles E. Dudley, of 
Albany, and built and endowed by his widow, was incorporated April 
3, 1852. The inaugural address was delivered August 26, 1856, by 
Edward Everett, during the meeting of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science. The institution ere long received contri- 
butions to the amount of $150,000. The charge of it was intrusted to 
Profs. Bache, Henry, Gould, and Peirce. Subsequently Prof. Mitchell 
was appointed director, and was succeeded by Prof. George W. Hough. 
The observatory also became afterwards a part of Union LTniversity.^ 

Profound interest in the general proposition was also shown by the 
remarks of eminent citizens at the opening of the fifth session of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Education, held at New 
York in 1855. 

(1) By Alex. Dallas Bache, Superintendent of the Coast Survey, retir- 
ing president : 

Allow me now, however, before yielding my place, to say a few words upon the 
themes which, had opportunity been offered, I would have desired to bringin amore 
appropriate shape before you. These are, a great university, the want of our country, 
in this our time, and the common school and college, fragments of systems requiring to he 
united into one. The various efforts made to establish a great university within the 
last thirty years are svell known to you. * * * A great university, in the full 
organization of its faculties of science and letters, and, if you please, of law, medi- 
cine, and theology, is, I am persuaded, the want of our country. * * * 

1 Historical and Statistical Eecord of the University of the State of New York, pp. 
173-7. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 59 

The mode of organiziitiim of siicli a university I can not nowtoncli niiou, but would 
nieiely say a few words in regard to the relations which its faculty of sciences woulfl 
sustain to education generally and to the progress of science. * ^ » Such an in- 
stitution requires a large endowment, not to be expended in costly buildings, but in 
museums, laboratories, collections of nature and art, and in sustaining liberally a 
corps of professors worthy of the institution and of the country. * * * If the 
common school were so organized as to be fit for all, as it is already in some of our 
cities; if it led to the high school and college, and then to the university, so that 
our youths who have the time and talent necessary should find an open way from 
the beginning to the end of the system, these institutions would help, not hinder 
each other; waste of time, money, and intellect would be avoided, and the youth of 
our country be truly educated. ' 

(2) By Eev. Charles Brooks, Massaelnisetts : 

The Anglo-Saxon blood on this side of the globe must faithfully educate and 
peacefully lead the other races. It is our destiny and tve mitsi fulfill it. We must, 
therefore, establish a national system of free and universal culture upon the broadest 
basis of pure democratic rei)ubiicanism, and then carry it into effect by the united 
wisdom and the resistless energy of a rich, powerful, intelligent, and Christian 
people. 

Such a system, suited to our thousand years of future growth and luuneless millions 
of inhabitants, "will place us at the head of the nations, while it becomes the pro- 
gressive agency, the conservative power, and the eternal blessing of our national 
life. * * " 

And the natural continuation of this system is tlie true republican idea of educa- 
tion. Carry out this republican idea, that every child has a right to culture, that 
every town is bound to see that its children receive education, and it follows that 
every State is morally and politically bound to develop all the talents that God sends 
into it, and it is therefore tlie duty of the State to establish a free college, and thus 
to carry education still onward and make each child what God designed that he 
should be. This, I apprehend, is the true republican idea of education. This is the 
idea which I wish to see established in all the republics of South America; and after 
all this comes the noble plan which has been so admirably and eloquently described 
by our retiring jtresident, a university into which the best scholars from our colleges 
may go and receive from the country such culture of the ]»eculiar talents which each 
possesses as shall fit him to answer the purpose for which he was born into the 
world; that be may fill the spot which God ordained that he should fill; that he may 
work without friction in his own proper place in the world." 

(3) By Prof. Benjamin Peirce, of Cambridge, Massachnsetts : 

There is one subject spoken of in the address of the retiring president in which, 
with him, I have taken great interest, and with him have sufiered disappointment. 
It is the establishment of a great university. I can, as he can, speak upon the sub- 
ject, now at least, with independence. There was a time, when we were engaged in 
our efforts at Albany, when I should have been willing to embark in such an institu- 
tion ; when, against the entreaties and almost the tears of my family and friends, I 
should have been willing, for the sake of the cause of education in the country, to 
have abandoned existing connections with another plan of learning to join that 
institution. But since that time I have designedly made such engagements as will 
make it impossible now. I am, therefore, as free as the president to speak upon the 
subject. It seems to me to have a very close and important connection with the sub- 
ject referred to by Rev. Mr. Brooks — the duty of the Government to educate every 
citizen; its duty because, if for no other reason, it is good economy on the jiart of 
the State to educate every one of its citizens to the utmost extent; just as good 

1 Barnard's Journal of Education, Vol. i, p. 477. "Id., Vol. ii, p. 87. 



60 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

economy as for tlie farmer to make the most of every portion of liis stock. The 
State will be benefited by educating every man to the highest point that he can be, 
and it will by the best investment it can make of its funds to invest them in intel- 
lect develoijed to its utmost capacity. 

It seems to me that a great university in connection with the colleges and high 
schools is of the greatest importance, because it gives the only means of adapting 
education to every variety of intellect. * * * 

I know it is a poisular doctrine that genius will find its way ; but I doubt whether 
genius will necessarily be developed of itself. We have another popular doctrine 
which is much nearer to the truth, which is, that opportunity makes the man. We 
can not have a great man unless he has ability, but neither can we have a great 
man who has not an opportunity worthy to develop him. It is important, therefore, 
that in our public- provision for education we should afford this opportunity. ' 

The oration of Dr. Benjamin ApttLorj) Gould, tlie astronomer, on July 
15, 1856, before the Connecticut Beta of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity 
of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, should also be cited : 

The purport of my words to-day is this: Shall our zone- bounded realm, lighted 
by Southern Cross and Northern Crown, shaded by its fir and larch and palm and 
vine, bearing in its maternal bosom the hope, not of a hemisphere, but of a world; 
whose presence is a speck in contrast with its awfully portentous future ; with a 
richness of resources and a teeming wealth surpassing that of any other empire on 
the earth * *• * shall we Americans never aspire to what suffering Leyden 
craved, Avhat conquered Prussia looked to for regeneration, and without which all 
the clustered glories of the Ehine lacked their highest charm ? No more must the 
long procession of our youth toil through its weary pilgrimage across the Atlantic 
wave in search of that mental sustenance which it has the right to demand at the 
hands of its fatherland. * * * 

But it may be asked by some: What means all this clamor for a university 
when we have already a hundred and twenty-seven in the land, and every year is 
adding to its numbers ? * * * The reason is very simple. It is not of colleges 
that we are speaking ; it is of a university. * * * 

By college I understand the high educational seminary which, if not the most ex- 
alted for the students of specialties, is yet the highest for the youth who seek that 
mental discipline, that classic culture, that literary refinement Avhichmust be drawn 
from the bosom of an alma mater, and of which we say "emoUit mores nee sinit esse 
feros." * * * 

By ''university," on the other hand, I understand the vniversitas litterarum, the 
HaveniGTrjiiLov, an institution where all the sciences in the complete and rounded ex- 
tent of their complex whole are cultivated and taught, where every specialty may 
find its votaries, and may offer all the facilities required by its neophytes. Its aim 
is not so much to make scholars as to develop scholarship, not so much to teach the 
passive learner as to educate investigators, and not merely to educate but to spur 
on. * * * 

Surely there can be no confusion as to the boundary line between these two dis- 
tinct institutions. One is designed to answer the demands of the community and of 
the age; the other to peint out tlie paths and lead our country on to a high, nobler, 
holier, sublimer eminence than it could otherwise attain or than would otherwise 
be striven for. 

Centralization is a word and an idea now far from ijopular. But this, like most 
other principles, has its good as well as evil consequences. And while we, under 
democratic and republican institutions, feel the full force of the objections to that 
political centralization under which we see so many nations of the old world totter- 
ing and sinking, we are too apt to overlook the incalculable, the unspeakable ad- 

1 Barnard's Journal of Education, Vol. u, p. 88. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 61 

vantages which flow from the concentrated accumulation of a whole nation's genius 
and talent. * * * There is no substitute for the "encounter of the wise." Like 
that of flint and steel it strikes out without cessation the glowing sparks of truth; 
like tliat of acid and alkali it forms new, unexpected, and priceless combinations; 
like the multiplication of rods in the fagot, it gives new strength to all while taking 
it from none. A spiritual stimulus jjcrvades the very atmosphere electrified by the 
proximity of congregated genius, its unseen but ever active energy — floating in the 
air, whispering in the bi'eeze, vibrating in the nerves, thrilling in the heart — promjits 
to new effort and loftier aspiration through every avenue which can give access to 
the soul of man. 

Such centralization is eminently distinguished from political centralization, and 
by this peculiarity, among others, that far from being a combination for the sake of 
arguing and exercising a greater collective power, it acts, on the contrary, to aug- 
ment individual influence. While forming a nucleus for scientific, literary, artistic 
energy, it is not a gravitation center toward which everything must converge and 
accumulate, but is an organic center whose highest function is to arouse and animate 
the circulation of thought and mental eftbrt and profound knowledge. It is a nucleus 
of vitality rather than a nucleus of aggregation. "^ * * An intellectual center for 
a land is a heart, but subject to no induration; it is a brain, but liable to no paraly- 
sis; an electric battery which cannot be consumed; it is a sun without eclipse, a 
fountain that will know no drought. To such a university our colleges would look 
for siiccor in their nee<l, for counsel in their doubt, for sympathy in their weal or 
woe. There is no one of them but would develop to new strength and beauty under 
its genial emanations; none so highly favored or so great that its resources and jiow- 
ers would not expand; none too lowly to imbibe the vitalizing, animating influences 
which it would diffuse like perfume. 

We want no university keeping up with the times and connneuding itself to the 
public approval. We Avant one which shall be just as far ahead of the age as is 
consistent with being within hail ; which shall enlarge and expand the mind and 
taste and appreciation of the public, compelling the admiration of the public, not 
soliciting its approval. We want a university which, instead of complying with 
the demands of the .age, shall create, develop, and satisfy new and unheard-of requi- 
sitions and aspirations — which, so far from adapting itself to the community, shall 
mold that conmiunity unto itself, and which through every change and every prog- 
ress shall still be far in advance of the body social, guiding it, leading it, urging 
it, drawing it, pulling it, hauling it onward. 

The university will contain a soul, a restless, striving, throbbing, impelling, shap- 
ing, creative vitality ; and will become, not an Italian, nor a French, nor an Eng- 
lish, nor a Spanish, nor a German, but preeminently an American university — glow- 
ing with American fire, pulsating with American aspirations, and, strange as the 
words may sound to us to-day, radiating with what will tlien be American scholar- 
ship, American depth of thought, American tlioroughness of research, American 
loftiness of generalization. * * * It will bring tlie refining power of ancient 
lore and classic elegance to balance and counteract the all-pervading- tendency to 
mere material science; it will leaven the tone of thought throughout the world by 
introducing the precision of exact science where the vagueness and confusion of the 
school men have long reigned; it will lift the philosophical and philological sciences 
to a far higher scope and standard as specialties, while it unfetters the struggling 
mind from the incubus of an antiquity. which recognizes no progress, a conserva- 
tism which excludes all things which are or ever have been new. For I assure you 
that tliere never existed a university which surrendered either to conservatism or 
radicalism; never a university which was not eminently nationalizing in its ten- 
dency. * * * Under the most absolute despotisms the universities have been 



62 A NATIONAL UNIVEESITY. 

nurseries of political liberty; under the most intolerant of creeds they have fos- 
tered freedom of thought. '"^ * * 

Found the American university and throngs of European youth shall crowd its- 
halls, carrying back with them American ideas to ennoble their own lands, bringing 
hither with them counterpoises of transatlantic thought that shall ennoble ours, 
and both by their coming and their going cementing the family of nations in bonds 
of mutual sympathy and attachment ; found it, though it cost the whole revenues of 
a capital. liCt earth, air, and sea bring their tribute; let California and India pour 
in their gold, and the busy marts of men their gains, till this great work is done. 
Thus shall we achieve the glory of a nation, the welfare of a continent, the advance- 
ment of the race, and crown the clustering hopes of humanity with more than full 
fruition. 1 

The paper contributed by "An Alabamian" (possibly tlie able presi- 
dent of the University of Alabama) to the American Journal of Educa- 
tion, in 1857, is in the same vein: 

* * * That end is the enlistment of the United States of America in the enter- 
prise of founding a great national university. This can only be accomplished 
through the million. A people is to be enlightened in regard to a thing which they 
can not comprehend, but which, by possibility, they may be made to apprehend 
sufficiently to lead to action. What grander labor ever awaited performance? 
It is to be done, if at all, through the instrumentality of American scholars. They 
are fully alive to its imjiortance, but they contemplate with aching hearts the diffi- 
culty of the task. « * * 

Here, then, we may rehearse in brief the three chief reasons why the idea of an 
American university, so timely and beneficent in its conception and so respectably 
enunciated to the world, seems to have fallen immediately into oblivion. 

1. A want of confidence in the permanency of the Federal Union. 

2. A lack of ability on the part of the people to discern the need of such an insti- 
tution. 

3. The inadequacy of the means hitherto employed in its promotion. * * * 
We are in i^ressing need of an American university. We can have one if we will. 

Let us use the requisite means. We have excellent colleges ; let them be sustained 
We have excellent State universities, (so called) ; let the States rally to their sup 
port. But the more these are multiplied and patronized, the louder and more urgent 
is the demand for a national university. 

In order to be national it should be located upon common ground. Under existing 
circumstances it would be wholly impracticable in New York, or Alabama, or any- 
where outside the District of Columbia. The Smithsonian Institution and the Na- 
tional Observatory form a worthy nucleus. If each State should appropriate $200,000 
toward an endoAvment a fund would thus be created of more than six millions, upon 
the strength of which a very respectable beginning could be made. Its permanent 
nationality would seem to require that each State be equally represented, both in 
the fund and in the management. * * * 

And it may not be amiss to add that a great Southern university is already spoken 
of; the establishment of which would defeat forever the project herein considered. 
It would doubtless be followed (if not preceded) by a great Northern university, and 
then a great Western university. There would then be three grand centers of attrac- 
tion and influence, tending rather to destroy than cement the Union. To avert such 
a consequence, let the plan of an American university be matured without unneces- 
sary delay. Sectional enterprise can not long be held in abeyance. Shall we hear 
a response from the North ? ^ 

1 Barnard's .Jour, of Education, 1856, pp 273-293. 
3 Jour, of Education, Vol in, p. 215. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 63 

LII. The efforts of John W. Hoyt, as United States Commis- 
sioner to the Paris Exposition of 1807, wliose official report of some 
400 pages, submitted to the Secretary of State after a personal inspec- 
tion. of every university in Europe and America, concludes as follows: 

So much is already beyond question, namely, that the university of the future is 
to be, not the mere college of America, nor even the college supplemented by one or 
more poorly equipped professional schools ; not that loose aggregation of granunar 
schools, supplemented by a few poorly attended courses of university lectures, that 
wear the title by courtesy in England ; not the French grouping of academic facul- 
ties, limited — especially in the departments of letters and science — to a quite too 
narrow field of study; not the university of Spain, or Portugal, or Italy, from whose 
faculties for the higher general culture the powers of attraction and inspiration have 
long' since departed; not the Scandinavian or Slavonian university, cast in the mold 
of mediieval times, or at the best a mixture of the old and more modern types ; nor 
yet the Germanic university, found, with but minor modifications, in all the states 
of Germany, in Austria, Switzerland, Holland, and Denmark, and which, though 
wherever foitnd it represents the highest existing type, is nevertheless everj'where 
too limited in scope and generally too lax in its regulations. 

It is to be not any of these, Init rather an institution more ample in its endowment, 
broader in its scope, more complete in its organization, more philosojihical and 
practical in its internal regulations, and certainly not less high than the highest in 
all its educational standards; an institution above and beyond the best of the gym- 
nasia, Latin schools, high schocds, academics, and coUeges, and, on its own higlier 
plane, for the extension and diffusion of all branches of knowledge; abroad and noble 
institution where the love of all knowledge, and of knowledge as knowledge, shall bo 
fostered and developed; where all departments of learning shall be equally honored, 
and the relations of each to every other shall be understood and taught ; where the stu- 
dents devoted to each and all branches of learning, whether science, language, liter- 
ature, or philosophy, or to any combination of these constituting the numerous 
professional courses of insf^i'uction, shall intermingle and enjoy friendly intercourse 
as peers of the same realm; where the professors, chosen, as in Franco and Germany, 
after trial, from among the ablest and best scholars of the world, possessed of abso- 
lute freedom of conscience and of speech, and honored and rewarded more nearly in pro- 
portion to merit, shall bo, not teachers of the known merely, but also earnest searchers 
after the unknown, and capable, by their own genius, enthusiasm, and moral power 
of infusing their own lofty ambition into the minds of all who may wait upon their 
instruction; a university not barely complying wnth the demands of the ago, but 
one that shall create, develop, and satisfy new and uuheard-of denuxuds and aspira- 
tions; that shall have jiower to fashion the nation and mold the age unto its own 
grander ideal ; and which, through every change and every real advance of the world, 
shall still be at the front, driving back from their fastnesses the powers of darkness, 
opening up new continents of truth to the grand army of progress, and so leading the 
nation forward, and helping to elevate the whole human race. Such an institution 
would be to the world its first realization of the true idea of a university.' 

LIII. The eft'orts of John W. Hoyt, by his address before tlie Na- 
tional Educational Association, at its annual meeting in Trenton, N. J., 
August 20, 1809, on University Progress, wherein it was urged that 
" a true university is the leading want of American education," and 
that the association should " neither take rest nor allow rest to the 
country " until such an institution had been planted and firmly estab- 

1 Exposition Reports, Vol. vi, pp. 397, 398. 



64 A NATIONAL UNIVEESITY. 

lished — " a fit illustration of American freedom and of American aspi- 
rations for the progress of tlie race." 

LIV. The action of the National Educational Association at the 
meeting above mentioned, in unanimously adopting the following reso- 
lution, offered by Superintendent Andrew J. Eickoff', of Ohio, namely: 

Resolved, That, in the opinion of this assaciation, a great American university is a 
leading want of American education, and that, in order to contribute to the early- 
establishment of such an institution, the president of this association, acting in con- 
cert with the president of the National Superintendents' Association, is hereby re- 
quested to appoint a committee consisting of one member from each of the States, 
and of which Dr. J. W. Hoyt, of Wisconsin, shall be chairman, to take the whole 
matter under consideration, and to make such report thereon at the next annual con- 
vention of said association as shall seem to be demanded by the interests of the 
country. 1 

Also by the appointment, as members of said national committee, of 
the following persons : 

Dr. John W. Hoyt, Madison, Wis., chairman ; Hon. N. B. Cloud, Montgomery, Ala. ; 
Hon. Thomas Smith, Little Eock, Ark, ; Prof. W. P. Blake, San Francisco, Cal. ; Hon. 
B. G. Northrup, New Haven, Conn. ; Prof. L. Coleman, Wilmington, Del. ; Hon. T. C. 
Chase, Tallahassee, Fla. ; Hon. Newton Bateman, Springfield, 111. ; Hon. B. C. Hobbs, 
Indianapolis, Ind. ; Hon. S. S. Kissell, Des Moines, Iowa; Hon. P. McVicker, Topeka, 
Kans. ; Hon. Z. T. Smith, Frankfort, Ky. ; Hon. T. W. Conway, New Orleans, La. ; 
Hon. Warren Johnson, Augusta, Me. ; Hon. M. A. Newell, Baltimore, Md. ; Hon. Joseph 
White, Boston, Mass. ; Hon. O. Hosford, Lansing, Mich. ; Prof. W. F. Phelps, Wiuona, 
Minn. ; President Daniel Read, Columbia, Mo. ; Prof. J. M. McKinsey, Peru, Nebr. ; 
Hon. A. N. Fisher, Carson City, Nev. ; Hon. Thomas Hardy, Concord, N. H. ; Hon. C. S. 
Apgar, Trenton, N. J. ; Hon. J. W. Bulkley, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Hon. S. S. Ashley, 
Ealeigh, N. C. ; Prof. A. J. Eickoff, Cleveland, Ohio ; Eev. Geo. H. Atkinson, Portland, 
Oregon; Hon. J. P. Wickersbam, Harrisburg, Pa.; Hon. T. W. Bicknell, Providence, 
E. I. ; Hon. J. K. Jillson, Charleston, S. C; Eev. C. T. P. Bancroft, Lookout Moun- 
tain, Tenn. ; Hon. J. S. Adams, Montjjelier, Vt. ; Hon. W. H. Euffin, Eichmond, Va. ; 
Prof Z. Eichards, Washington, D. C. 

LY. The efforts of Dr. William B. Wedge wood, Thomas C. Connelly, 
John L. Eoberts, William H. Chase, S. S. Baker, A. C. Eichard, James 
M. Fuston, encouraged by many citizens of Washington, including 
especially Dr. C. C. Cox, Prof. Zalmon Eichards, Dr. Tullio de Suzzara- 
Yerdi, and Justice Arthur MacArthur, who, on Ax)ril 14, 1871, pro- 
cured a charter for the incorporation of a national university, under 
which at first a law school and afterwards a medical school were opened, 
with the expectation of making them permanent departments of the 
university when it should become an established fact. [Both of these 
professional schools are still in operation, under lead of Chancellor 
Arthur MacArthur; but they are without endowment, and are only 
kept alive by voluntary sacrifices on the part of their faculties.] 

LYI. The publication by John W. Hoyt, in 1870, of his work on 
the Progress of University Education, the same being an enlarge- 

1 Proceedings Nat. Ed. Ass'n., 1869, p. 23. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 65 

raent of the Address above-meutioued, and embracing: (1) The Uni- 
versity of the Past; (2) The University of tlie Present; and (3) The 
University of the Future. From the closing pages of this work the 
following extract is made: 

If, uow, the conclusions reaolied npon the several questions involved be correct — 
and a full and free discussion of them is cordially invited — may Ave not assume that 
the university of the future ought to he, and is destined to be, not only a higlier but 
a more comprehensive institution than the higliest and most complete uf those uoat 
in existence — an institution high enough to embrace the utmost limits of actual intel- 
lectual achievement and broad enough to include every real profession — an institu- 
tion fulfilling as has never yet been done its three-fold office of giving the highest in- 
struction in every department <iud alone conferring tlie liighest degrees therein; of 
extending the boundaries of human knowledge by means of research an:l investiga- 
tion, and of exerting a constantly stimulating influence upon every class of schools 
of lower grade ? 

The realization of this higli ideal will cost large sums of laoney. Its foundation 
must be reckoned by millions, its professors by hundreds, and its means of illustra- 
tion and experiment be extensive in every department. But the results upon our 
whole system of education and upon the intellectual progress of the people would 
be beyond calculation.' 

\ LVII. The unanimous adoption by the National Educational Associ- 
ation, at its annual meeting at Cleveland, Ohio, in August, 1870, of the, 
preliminary report of its committee on a national university, from which 
report the following passages are quoted:^! 

Notwithstanding the many and various uses heretofore made of the term univer- 
sity, it may be assumed, without fear of successful contradiction, that the loading 
offices of a true university are these: 

(1) To provide the best possilde facilities for the higliest and most iirofoun<l cul- 
ture in every department of learning. 

(2) To provide the means of a thorough preparation for all such iiursuits in Hie 
as, being based upon established scientific and philosophical principles, are entitled 
to rank as professions. 

(.3) To exert a stimulating and elevating influence upon every subordinate class 
and grade of educational institutions by holding up before tlie multitude of tlieir 
pupils the standard of the highest scholarship, and by preparing for their adminis- 
trative and instructional work officers and teachers of ahigher grade of qualification 
than would be otherwise possible. 

(4) To enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge, by means of the researches and 
investigations of its professors and fellows, as well as by the researches and investi- 
gations of other advanced minds, encouraged to greater activity and led to greater 
achievements by the influence of the university example. 

In so far as any institution, whatever its name or fame, fails in the fulfilment of 
this general mission, by so much does it fall short of the standard of a true univer- 
sity. 

And, again: 

V Such a university in America would at once become a power, influential alike in 
furthering and directing t,ur material development, in elevating the character of the 
.lower educational institutions of the country, and in awakening and sustaining 
higher conceptions of both individual and national culture, thus helping, by a happy 



University Progress, p. 79. ^ proceedings of Nat. Ed. Ass'n, 1869, pp. 97-100. 
S. Mis. 222 5 



QQ A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

combination of our own more thaa Eoman energy and religious faith with the grace 
and refinement of the Greek civilization, to become a nation fnlly worthy of the 
future that awaits the United States. 

It would do vastly more than this. It would supply to all lands a most important need 
of the times — a university placed under the benign iufluence of free civil and reli- 
gious institutions, and sublimely dedicated to the diffusion and advancement of knowl- 
edge. Students of high aspirations, and even Tij)e scholars of genius, would eventually 
flock to its halls from every quarter of the globe, adding to the intellectual wealth 
of the nation should they remain, oi" bearing with them scions from the tree of lib- 
erty for planting in their native lands. And thus America, already the most mar- 
velous theater of material activities, would early ])ecome the world's recognized 
center of intellectual culture as well as of moral and political power. * * J^_ [ 

When a few years since the men of work asked help of the nation for the endow- 
ment of schools for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts the Government, 
with a liberal hand, gaA^e for this noble object 10,000,000 acres of the public domain, 
to which the individual States and great-hearted men have added no less liberal 
means. How much more, theu, proportionally, will our statesmen in council and 
liberal patriots yield for the founding and maintenance of one great central insti- 
tution, to be established in the interest of every profession and of all classes of 
schools, of a profound and universal culture, of a more perfect intellectual and 
social development of the Avhole body of the nation, in the interest of liberty and 
universal man ! 

Finally : 

In the opinion of your committee, the attention of the association has not been 
called to this subject a moment too soon. The trial of its political institutions 
throuo-h Avhich the American nation has just passed; the manner in which the neces- 
sity for education as the only guaranty for the perpetuity of these institutions has 
just been burned into the national consciousness; the pressing demand made by our 
material and social condition for the best educational facilities the world can fur- 
nish, aud the fast accumulating evidence that America is surely destined to a glorious 
leadership in the grand march of the nations — all these constitute an appeal to ac- 
tion which it were criminal to disregard. The necessity is great. The country and 
the times are ripe for the undertaking. 

LVIII. The address of Gen. John Eaton, jr., National Commissioner 
of Bdncation, before the National Teacher's Association, at Cleveland, 
August 19, 1870, wherein he said : 

Next, as regards the District of Columbia. Here especially in the city of Wash- 
ington there should be a model system of education and scientific training for our 
youth, complete in its buildings, apparatus, and grounds, and in its opportunities for 
research in letters, science, and art. Where else than at the seat of Government could 
there more fitly be the crowning university of the land, where every qualified youth 
could freely pursue any branch of study or experiment desired. The Eepviblic of 
Switzerland has already set us the example in its federal university. Thus would be 
realized the ideal dream of the Father of his Country. ^ 

LIX. The action of the National Educational Association, at its an- 
nual meeting of 1871, held at St. Louis — 

(1) In unanimously adopting the second report of the aforesaid com- 
mittee on a national university; which report, among other things, 
contained the following : 

Your committee are also gratified to be able to report a general concurrence, on the 



1 Proceedings of Nat. Ed. Ass'n, 1869, p. 113. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 67 

part of tho many eminent men who have expressed their views npon the subject, iu 
those large and liberal ideas of nnivcrsity education which only are adequate to tho 
growinji; and already pressing demands of our country and times. 

It was not deeuied important in submitting our first report, nor is it necessary in 
this, to mark the details of wliat tho institution should be. * * * It may be proper, 
however, to state in general terms : 

(1) That it shonld be broad enough to embrace every department of science, liter- 
ature, and the arts, and every real profession. 

(2) That it should be high enough to supplement the highest existing institutions 
of the country, and to embrace within its held of instruction the utmost limits of 
human knowledge. 

(3) That, in the interest of truth and justice, it should guarantee equal privileges 
to all duly (jualitied api)licants for admission to the courses of instruction, and equal 
rights, as well as the largest Irccdom, to all earnest investigators in that vast domain 
which lies outside tlie limits of acknowledged scicuice. 

(4) That it should be so constitutiMl and establislied as to conmiand the hearty 
support of the American people, regardless of section, party, or creed. 

(.5) That its material resources should be vast enough to enable it not only to fur- 
nish, and that either freely or at nominal cost, the best instruction the world can af- 
ford, but also to provide the best known facilities for the work of scientific investiga- 
tion, together with endowed fellowships and honorary fellowships, open respectively 
to the most meritorious graduates and to such investigators, whether native or for- 
eign, as, being candidates therefor, shall have distinguished themselves most in the 
advancement of knowledge. 

(6) That it should bo so coordinated in plan with the other institutions of the 
country as not only in no way to conflict with them, but on the conti'ary, to become 
at once a potent agency for tlieir improvement and tlie means of creating a complete, 
harmonious, and efficient system of American education. * * * 

The idea of a national university, then, is as old as the nation, has had the fullest 
sanction of the wisest and best men of succeeding generations, and is in perfect 
harmony with the jiolicy and practice of the Government.' 

(2) The action of the National Educational Association, at the afore- 
said St. Louis meeting of 1871, in creating, as proposed by its said na- 
tional university committee, a new and permanent committee, " to be 
charged with the duty of further conducting tlie enterprise to a suc- 
cessful issue, whether by means of conferences and correspondence, or 
through the agency of a special convention ; " the said permanent com- 
mittee thus created being constituted as follows, to wit: 

Dr. John W. Hoyt, of Wisconsin, chairman ; ex-President Thomas Hill, Massa- 
chusetts; Mr. E. L. Godkin, New York; Hon. W. P. Wickersham, State superin- 
tendent of imblic instruction, Pennsylvania; Dr. Barnas Sears, Virginia; Col. D. F. 
Boyd, president University of Louisiana, Louisiana; Dr. Daniel Read, president Uni- 
versity of Missouri, Missouri; Dr. W. F. Phelps, president State Normal School, 
Winona, Minn. ; ex-Governor A. C. Gibbs, Oregon; Hon. Newton Batemau, State 
superintendent of public instruction, Illinois; with the following ex officio members: 
The pi-esident of the National Educational Association; the National Comnaissiouer 
of Education ; the president of the National Academy of Sciences ; the president of 
the National Association for the Advancement of Science, and the i)resident of the 
American Social Science Association.- 

LX. The preparatian, by the aforesaid ijermanent committee on a 
national university, in January, 1872, of a bill to be offered to Oou- 

» Proceedings Nat. Ed. Assn., 1870, pp. 97-100. «Id., 1871, pp. 37-41. 



68 A NATIONAL UNIVEESITY. 

gress, and in sending tlie same to leading citizens in all parts of the 
coantry, accompanied by the following request: 

Dear Sir : This draft of a bill to incorporate a national university is merely ten- 
tative, and is respectfully submitted to you for criticisms and suggestions, wbicb 
please forward to the undersigned * * * as early as practicable. 

LXI. The valuable assistance of Senator Charles Sumner, who gave 
much time to this subject, especially in 1872-'73, who aided in maturing 
the bill of the !N"ational Educational Association, and whose interest was 
so great that he seriously talked of making a systematic effort to secure 
the founding of the proposed university as the closing labor of his life. 

LXII. The preijaration, by Dr. O, W. Wight, of a bill to establish a 
national university for the purpose of elevating the standard of educa- 
tion in the Eepublic and promoting the intellectual welfare of the 
people, and the introduction of said bill (S. 859) on March 25, 1872, by 
Senator Timothy O. Howe. 

LXIII. The cooperation of Senators J. W. Patterson, Timothy O. 
Howe, Mathew H. Carpenter, John J. Ingalls, W. B. Allison, L. Q. C. 
Lamar, and James H. Garland, Professors Joseph Henry, Spencer F. 
Baird, and Louis Agassiz, and others, with the ^National University 
Committee, in the iweparation of the bill finally introduced in both 
Houses of Congress (S. 1128 and H. E. 2839) on May 20, 1872, by Senator 
Frederick A. Sawyer and Hon. Legraud W. Perce. 

LXIV. The unanimous report of the Committee on Education and 
Labor of the House of Eepresentatives on the bill above referred to; 
said committee consisting of Messrs. Legrand W. Perce, of Missis- 
sippi, chairman; GeorgeF. Hoar, of Massachusetts; Washington Town- 
send, of Pennsylvania; Eoderick F. Butler, of Tennessee; Mark H. 
Dunnell, of Minnesota; Eobert B. Elliott, of South Carolina; John B. 
Storm, of Pennsylvania; T. Mclutyre, of Georgia; Hosea W. Parker, 
of New Hampshire; the report, submitted March 3, 1873, being in part 
as follows : 

It is unnecessary to frame an argument to show^ the special importance of university 
culture in a country like ours, where the administration of public affairs, the molding 
of our political institutions, and hence the destinies of the Republic, are intrusted to 
representatives chosen by the people; where, moreover, as nowhere else, there must 
constantly arise new problems demanding the sure light of science, material, social, 
and political, for their solution. It is not enough that the American Eepublic be dis- 
tinguished by the universality of common education ; it should be no less distinguished 
by the prevalence of thorough culture. * * * 

This need of the university has been felt and strongly expressed by many of the most 
distinguished citizens in all periods of our history. It was repeatedly declared by 
the framers of our national Constitution, and urged in the messages of the early 
Presidents ; and although some of the colleges then in existence have largely increased 
their pecuniary foundations and enlarged their j^laus correspondingly, scientific 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 69 

(liscovory and tlie demands of the age have likewise so increased that the host of 
tlieni still fall sliort of meeting the needs of the eonntry and times. * * • 

Nor has the reuoguition of this necessity for a true university been confined to in- 
dividual writers. It was aftirmed more than twenty years ago by an association of 
some of the most eminent men of the country, brought together solely by a mutual 
interest in this subject, aud again, so recently as 1869, it was reaffirmed by the Na- 
tional Teachers' Association iu couventiou assembled. * * * 

Passing now from the (juestiou of need to the question of how that want is to be 
met, the conunittee are satisfied that it can not be by any institution at present ex- 
isting, for these reasons : 

(1) That none has or is likely to have the pecuniary resources essential to the 
highest and most complete university work. 

(2) That none can be made so entirely free from objection on both denominational 
and local grounds as to insure the patronage of the people, regardless of section or 
l)artisan relationship. 

(4) That no institution not established upon neutral ground, or other than national 
in the important sense of being established by the people and for the people of the 
whole nation, and in part for a national end, could possibly meet all the essential 
demands to be made upon it. * * * 

The committee acknowledge the force of these views of the founders of the Gov- 
ernment, and hence are prepared to indorse the sentiments expressed in the pream- 
ble to the bill under consideration, namely, that " it is the duty of every government 
to furnish to its people facilities for the highest culture," aud that "such facilities 
can not be otherwise so well provided for the people of this nation as by foundino' 
a university so comprehensive in plan as to include every department of learning, 
so high as to embrace the limits of knowledge, so national in aim as to promote con- 
cord among all sections, and so related to other institutions as to promote their effi- 
ciency and with them form a complete system of American education." 

It but remains, therefore, to determine whether the provisions of the bill are 
wisely adapted to the ends proposed. 

The bill provides that the university shall be established at the national capital, 
where alone can be found convenient neutral ground in which the whole people of 
the United States have a common interest; where are annually gathered the repre- 
sentatives of every section of the country; where also are resident the representa- 
tives of all the foreign powers with whom we have intercourse; where are found 
to such an extent as nowhere else iu this ccnintry most important auxiliaries in the 
form of the various government departments, literary, scientific, and industrial; 
and, finally, where alone the government has umxuestioned authority to establish 
and maintain such an institution. 

As to the government of the university, the plan is well calculated to command the 
confidence and support of the people of all portions of the country, to protect the in- 
stitution from political interference, and to insure to its educational forces that free- 
dom so essential to the life and growth of a univei'sity. 

The bill provides for the organization of fiiculties embracing the present entire 
field of huiuan knowledge, and opens the way for such modifications as will enable 
the institution to meet the demands of the future. 

It wisely guards against the use of the people's money in aid of religious or polit- 
ical partisanship, and yet, under judicious safeguards, opens the door for instruction 
in every department of learning and in support of any priuciplesof truth whatsoever. 

It does not provide that the institution shall be absolutely free for students, * * » 
but in harmony with that freedom and elasticity which characterize the whole plan, 
it does provide that instruction shall at all times be as nearly free for students as 
consistent with the income of the institution andAviththe best interests of learning. 

Another very important feature of this bill consists in the careful and impartial 
recognition it makes of all classes of our schools, which the university ♦ • • 



70 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

will tend to stimulate, elevate, and harmonize, AvMle at the same time supplying a 
crowumg institution capable of supplementing their work and giving to the coun- 
try a well-ordered system. 

Hardly less important is the recognition the bill makes of the duty of the univer- 
sity to contribute to the advancement of knowledge '^ * * and the encourage- 
ment it provides by means of ordinary and honorary fellowships and other prefer- 
ments to be awarded to such graduates as shall acquit themselves best during their 
respective courses of study, and to be conferred upon learned men of whatever insti- 
tution or country who have shown distinguished ability for rendering the world 
valuable service in some of the various fields of research and investigation. Thus 
the plan of the university as to scope and adaptation to the true ends of such an insti- 
tution as well as to the genius of the people for whom it is to be established, is com- 
prehensive and complete. 

The plan as to endowment is simple, definite, and secure ; this, namely, that the 
Government shall bind itself to pay to the national university in perpetuity 5 per 
cent interest on a registered, unassignable certificate of $20,000,000, and that for so 
long a time as is necessary the accruing interest may be used for the purchase of 
grounds, the erection of needed buildings, and the equipment of the several depart- 
ments of the institution. 

The immense advantage to be derived from the relations to be established between 
the university and the numerous departments and bureaus of the Government will be 
apparent to any one familiar with the cost of furnishing and maintaining great 
libraries, scientific establishments, and collections illustrative of the arts and sci- 
ences, as will likewise the propriety of utilizing, for the purposes of education and 
national progress, facilities which coitld not otherwise be supplied without the ex- 
penditure of many millions. * * * 

If, then, it be true, as the committee have brieily endeavored to show, that our 
country is at present wanting in the facilities for the highest culture in many depart- 
ments of learning; and if it be true that a central university, besides meeting this 
demand, would quicken, strengthen, and systematize the schools of the country from 
the lowest to the highest; that it would increase the amount and the love of pure 
learning, now too little appreciated by our people, and so improve the intellectual 
and social status of the nation ; that it would tend to homogeneity of sentiment, and 
thus strengthen the unity and patriotism of the people ; that, by gathering at its 
seat distinguished savants, not only of our own but of other lands, it would eventu- 
ally make of our national capital the intellectual center of the world, and so help 
the United States of America to rank first and highest among the enlightened nations 
of the earth; then is it most manifestly the duty of Congress to establish and amply 
endow such a university at the earliest possible day. 

The committee, therefore, afiSrm their approval of the bill and recommend its pas- 
sage by the House.' 

LXV. Impromptu discnssions of tlie national university proposition 
at tlie meeting of tlie I^ational Educational Association, in 1873, at 
Elmira, :N^. Y.^ 

(1) Eemarks of United States Senator G. W. Wright, of Iowa: 

During the session of the last Congress a bill was introduced by Senator Howe 
which was broad in its scope and liberal in its endowment. No report was made upon 
Senator Howe's bill, but another bill, a few weeks later in the session, was introduced 
in the House and referred to the Committee on Education and Labor This bill, 
after careful consideration, was unanimously reported to the Hoiise and its passage 
recommended, * * * 



iH. of R., 42d Cong., 3d sess.. Report No. 90. 
« Proceedings Nat. Ed. Ass'n, 1873, pp. 120-129. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 71 

In the manner I have described the attention of Congress and of the people at 
arge is turned to the accomplishment of this great ohjoct, Avhich will prove to be 
the crowning glory of the first century of our national existence. 

The city of Washington in a few years, under the skillful management of the board 
of^)ublic works, will become one of the most beautiful and attractive cities on this 
continent, and it is in the power of Congress, by the permanent establishment and 
liberal endowment fif the national university, to make our national capital the iu- 
tellectiial center of the nations. 

(2) Pre>si(lent James McCosh. of Princeton : 

Although not approving of the bills referred to, I like the idea of a national uni- 
versity of a character so high that it would not be a competitor of any existing in- 
stitution. 

(3) Superintendent Z. Richards, Washington, D. C: 

If the Government can do anything for education it surely can give the best kind 
of education. Our schools must be supported either by the State or by sects, or not 
at all. Schools we must have, but who wants purely sectarian schools only ? * * » 
A candid and careful examination will hardly fail to convince any unbiased mind 
that these bills provide for that higher culture so much demanded, without inter- 
fering with our present colleges and so-called universities except to improve and 
elevate them, and without affecting the religious welfare of any denomination or 
sect. 

(4) President George P. Hays, Washington and Jefierson College, 
Pennsylvania: 

I am much gratified at this discussion, ibr, whatever else it may do, it promotes 
the coming of an American university from some quarter. For that universitv in 
some form and from some soiirce, I am an earnest advocate. You will notice that 
while we have but one and the same thing in view, we are only at variance as to the 
method by which it is to be secured. One method is by the National Goverinnent 
and the other is by the transformation of some of our present colleges into the true 
university. 

Is it doubted that there is a demand for such a university? Tliat question has its 
answer indicated bjr the large numbers of our best graduates, looking to professor- 
ships and other scholarly i)ositions, who go to Europe, by Professor Agassiz's school 
on the island in New Enghind, and by the efforts of Harvard and Yale to establish a 
university course of lectures. * * * 

But it is said, when there is a demand for such an institution it will come of 
itself. This reminds me of the man who replied, when asked for a contribution to 
a mission to the Jews, "The Jews give money to convert the Jews! Why the 
Jews are the richest people in the world. If they want to be converted, let them 
give the money themselves." 

Moreover, as Dr. Reed, our president, says, "Logically it would seem as if educa- 
tion should begin and develop upward, while, as a fact, it begins at higher educa- 
tion and works downward." So, in all our history, we do not wait for State action 
until the whole people urge it, but act in view^ of the wants of the whole people. I 
am not so much afraid of the impurity of the CTOvernment. We are not near destruc- 
tion; and there is virtue enough in the Republic to right its wrongs and carry on its 
work. I believe this university could be so managed, when established by Govern- 
ment, as to have a most beneficial efi'ect on our educational system. 

(5) Remarks of W. B. Wedgewood, dean of the National University 
Law School, at Washington : 



72 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

The act of Congress providing for the creation of corporations in the District of 
Columbia by the general law was approved May 5, 1870. The act provides the mode 
of establishing institutions of learning of the rank of a college or university. In 
accordance with these provisions, the National University, on the 19th day of Sep- 
tember, 1870, became a body politic and corporate. * * * 

This university, in the words of Madison, is "local in its legal character but uni- 
versal in its beneficial eifects." Following the advice of Washington, ''that the 
primary object of such a national institution should be to educate our men in the 
science of government," its founders first established the law college for the educa- 
tion of those young men who, as statesmen and jurists, are to be the future guard- 
ians of the liberties of our country, as in the past they have been its heroic defenders. 

The charter of the National University makes the President of the United States 
(ex officio) chancellor of the university. It first annual commencement was held at 
Lincoln Hall, on Tuesday evening, May 21, 1872. President Grant, in the presence 
of one of the most intelligent audiences ever assembled in Washington, conferred 
the degree of bachelor of laws upon a class of thirty-one young men, who had pur- 
sued their course of study for two years in the university. 

(6) President Daniel Eead, University of Missouri : 

That the national capital, in the territory under the immediate legislative control 
of Congress, was the only proper place for a national university, and that in this 
way only could the constitutional objection, which would be strong, * * * be 
obviated. But there were still other reasons for the location at the national capi- 
tal — ^that there was the great Congressional Library, still to be increased from year 
to year; there was the astronomical observatory; there were vast collections in all 
departments from every part of the world; there Avere models in the arts, and be- 
sides scientific experiments were continually in progress for the purposes of the 
Government, to say nothing of the diplomatic and public discussions incident to the 
capital. All these means and advantages could be made available for a great institu- 
tion of the kind proposed. * * * 

Besides these considerations, tlie effect of such an institution would be beneficial 
unon the capital in elevating the general tone, in stimulating and concentrating 
scientific investigations, and awakening inquiry on social and economic questions. 
Many able young men connected with the Government as employes or attaches might 
be expected to avail themselves of the opportunity of attending the lectures, instruc- 
tions, or experiments of such a university. It was a statement of a very able head 
of one of the Departments at Washington, that he could from any one of the Depart- 
ments select a more learned faculty than any college in the land could boast of. 

Surely no one would consider such an institution as any other than one for the 
highest scientific and literary culture of men who have already made attainments 
fitting them to enter upon a course of philosophic inquiry and scientific investiga- 
tion. * * * 

Then as to donations of land by the General Government for the encouragement 
and promotion of education; such gifts have been made almost from the beginning, 
even prior to the formation of the Federal Constitution. If I mistake not, the idea 
originated in good old Massachusetts, springing out of Massachusetts notions, 
* * * with Dr. Manasseh Cutler, the pastor of a church at Hamilton, not far 
from Cambridge, I believe. * * * This was as early as 1785. * * * Here is 
at least a historic argument in favor of aid from the General Government to insti- 
utions of education . 

Now as to the idea itself of a national university, while as I have said, it is not 
specially my idea, * » * i can not treat as visionary that which Washington 
recommended, and James Madison and John Quincy Adams advocated, and many 
other great and patriotic men have zealously advocated as a means of elevating all 
our higher institutions of learning, and giving unity and concentration of effort 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 73 

to literary and scientific men, and constituting indeed a bond of unity to tlie nation 
itself. * * * 

But this is not a (jnestion — I mean the education of the people as an interest of 
Government — to be argued in onr day ; we can not reverse American sentiment, which 
is growing stronger and stronger, and which now on this subject pervades the 
whole American people. 

We must not fall into the error that the people are one thing and the Government 
something quite distinct and diflferent, and having antagonistic interests. With us, 
government is nothing but an organized agency from the people, by the people, for 
the people. 

'• LXVI. President Grant's recommendation, in his message of Decem- 
ber 1, 1873, in these words : 

I would suggest to Congress the projiriety of promoting the establishment in this 
District of an institution of learning or university of the highest class, by donation 
of lands. There is no place better suited for such an institution than the national 
capital. There is no other place in which every citizen is so directly interested.' | 

LXVII. Further efforts of United States Senator Timothy O. Howe, 
of Wisconsin, especially — 

(1) By sundry speeches wherein was urged the dnty of the Govern- 
ment to make the fullest j)ossible provision for the education of the 
people. As a matter of fact, every proposition to do anything in this 
interest had his sympathy and commanded his support, as may be in- 
ferred from the following passage from his speeches in the Senate: 

I want to see a better style of men brought tipou the stage of action just as 
soon as it is convenient. I do not expect, whether I leave these seats here early or 
late, ever to vote against the appropriation of a dollar which is asked for to aid in 
the work of human culture. 

(2) By open and earnest advocacy of the jjroposed university in some 
of the irablic journals, for example, in the Wisconsin Journal of Edu- 
cation, in whose pages, upon more than one occasion, and especially in 
1874, he presented its claims with all his accustomed clearness and log- 
ical force. From some of these ijaj)ers are taken the extracts below •? 

In the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States the subject 
of a national university was somewhat considered. The proposition had some warm 
friends. It found no enemies there. * * * It was in 1787 that James Madison, 
not of Massachusetts but of Virginia, not a professional teacher but a practical 
statesman, moved in convention, at Philadelphia, to clothe Congress with express 
powers to establish such a university. 

To the Senator's mind the needs, duties, and powers of the nation 
were so very clear that the question of either, on the part of any intel- 
ligent citizen, awakened a suspicion of insincerity. If one showed him- 
self critical as to details in any of the several bills, he would say : 

Doubtless they arc imperfect. It is the business of legislation and the work of 
time to perfect them. It is not to be expected that the first charter will be beyond 
the reach of criticism. The organic act of even Harvard was not. That ancient 
constitution was agreed to in the following words : 

' House Ex. Docs., Forty-third Cong., Ist sess.. Vol. i, pt. 1, p. 22. 
2 Wis. Jour, of Ed., Vol. iv, pp. 128-133, 161-164. 



74 A NATIONAL UNIVEESITY. 

"The court agrees to give £400 towards a scboole or colledge, whereof £200 to be 
paid next yeare and £200 when the work is finished, and the nex court to appoint 
wheare and what building." 

On tlrat slight foundation was started what has since become the present noble 
institution. Had the statesmen of Massachusetts then urged the defects in that 
charter, we might never have been permitted to rejoice in the existence of Har- 
vard. * * * 

The great question is, Shall the nation establish a university? Doubtless there 
are those who may think the expenditure demanded by such an enterprise is beyond 
the present ability of the legislature. * * « There may be those who think the 
founding of such an institution is outside of the constitutional authority of the 
National Oovernment. * * * There may be those who think the provision- 
already made for intellectual culture is sufficient. * * * 

For all sucli tlie Senator was ready with, those noble words of Hor- 
ace Mann : 

In our country and our time no man is worthy the honored name of statesman 
who does not include the Mgliest praGticable education of the people in all his plans of 
administration. He may have eloquence, he may have a knowledge of all history, 
jurisprudence, and by them he might claim in other countries the elevated rank of 
a statesman; but unless he speaks, plans, labors at all times and in all places for the 
culture and educatioi of the whole people, he is not, he can not be, an American 
statesman. 

If some caviler should claim that he did not mean to exclude all gov- 
ernments from the work of education, but only to exclude the Govern- 
ment of the United States, he would say: 

His argument is not consistent, nor could an argument consistent with that 
view be framed. Manifestly education is a matter of private concern only or it is 
a matter of public concern also. If of private concern, it shoiild be left to the indi- 
vidual, and all governments should let it alone. But if of public concern, govern- 
ment should attend to it; not any one government exclusively, but every govern- 
ment clothed with any authority over the public welfare should contribute to the 
work according to its ability and its opportiinity. Undoubtedly, under our politi- 
cal system, the work is left mainly to the several States, but if the National Gov- 
ernment can help, it should. 

Did it appear that there was no disposition to exclude government 
from the work of primary, and only from that of higher education, he 
would reply : 

Still, the fact remains that the education of the citizen is of value to the State or 
it is not. If it be conceded that partial education is of some value, it will hardly 
be denied that thorough education is of more value. Besides it is in this precise 
way that the builders of the National Government intended it should aid the cause 
of mental culture. It was in this j^recise ivay that Washinijton and Madison (and Jef- 
ferson) so incessantly urged the Government to act. * * * 

The government of Massachusetts has faithfully seconded the aspirations of her 
people. The governments of other States have faithfully reflected the indifference of 
theirs. The government of Massachusetts can not directly aid the people of Dela- 
ware, nor can the government of Delaware directly retard the people of Massachu- 
setts. Yet these two communities are by no means iiidependent ; the people of each 
State influence the destiny of the people in every other State. 

A vote given in Rhode Island may destroy the profits of a harvest in the valley 
of the Mississippi. A vote given in Kansas may throw Wall street into convulsions. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 75 

A milliou ami a balf of such votes are iu the bands of ineu utterly imaLle to reafi 
them. Under such circumstances can the nation afford to fold its arms? It may be 
well enough when you are safe on shore, if you see a ship in the offing with a stone- 
blind crew on her deck and a tempest about to break over her men, to call on the 
helpless seamen to make sail and come into port. The world will not be apt to call 
such obdurate selfishness blessed, but they may call it discreet, prudent, economical. 
If, on the contrary, j'ou are not on shore, but in the cabin of the imperiled ship, you 
must not expect to earn a high character for prudence even unless you help the 
sightless mariners to handle the ropes, or at least show them the way to the shrouds. 

* # f * When Shreveport and Mempliis are wasted by fever, when Ireland is 
wasted by famine, and Chicago and Boston by fire, Government has afforded relief, 
although not expressly assigned to that duty, and although relief was otherwise 
attainable. Government has built many school-houses. * * * It has endowed 
noble universities and agricultural colleges, * * * although private agencies 
might possibly have done the same. 

Public liberty still survives. It is less than a quarter of a century since Daniel 
Webster looked with apprehension upon the prospect of a sejiarate republic on 
the Pacific Coast. The Government has helped to bind the two coasts together by 
a railway. Perhaps it is too eardy to say what will be the effect of that measure 
upon American liberty. But it is more than two hundred years since Government 
laid the corner stone of Harvard University, and it is not yet perceptible that the 
foundations of public liberty have been weakened thereby. 

Among the aborigine-* of America, statesmen do very generally hold that public 
authority should defer to private agencies; and so their Government looks cooly on 
while the victim of larceny makes reprisal on the thief, and the friends of the mur- 
der, d execute vengeance on the murderer. But the prevailing opinion iu American 
society is, that all such excentricities as larceny and homicide call for the admoni- 
tion and instruction of the Government. Not that j)rivate agencies can not reach 
them; Government will not allow such agencies to interfere. The great teachers, 
the Government commissions for the instruction of such learners are courts, peni- 
tentiaries, and the gallons. Very many people believe the schoolhouse and the 
university to be means of instruction quite as becoming and much cheaper; and 
there are some enthusiasts (?) who believe that such means, properly employed, are 
quite as efficient iind do not sap the foundations of public liberty anymore than 
their more popular rivals— prisons and gibbets. 

We deceive our.selves dangerously, says one, when we think or speak as if edu- 
cation, whether primary or university, could guarantee republican institutions. 
Do we, indeed? Well, educate a people once — not a class, but n people — and then 
let some cocked hat or some crowned head attempt to establish any other than I'e- 
publican institutions ovei- them, and see who is dangerously deceived! 

LXVIII. The address of Dr. Andrew 1). White, president of Cornell 
University, at the Detroit meeting- of the National Association in 1874. 

On their foundation I would have public grants and private gifts combined. Here 
too, fortunately, there is a well-detined national policy and to some extent a State 
policy. 

The National Government acted in accordance with it when it gave the grant of 
lands for general and scientific and industrial education in 1862, and the States acted 
in accordance with it when they appropriated that grant — Connecticut to Yale, New 
Hampshire to Dartmouth, Vermont to the Vermont University, New Jersey to Rut- 
gers, Massachusetts to the State Agricultural College and Institute of Technology, 
Rhode Island to Brown University. The Scripture rule iu this case is "to him that 
hath shall be given." The scientific rule is, let there be a " survival of the fittest," 
and the plain rule of common sense — whether iu Nation or State, whether in old 



76 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

States or new — whether for public or private gifts, is for primary education, diftu- 
sion; for advanced education, concentration of resources. 

And as to the general application of these rules, the history of all civilized nations 
and especially our own, shows that the thoughtful statesmanship of each generation 
should provide for the primary, secondary and advanced education of each. 

Accepting this principle the immediate care should evidently be to strengthen by 
public action the best foundations for advanced education which we already have; 
and should the National Government take a few of the strongest in various parts of 
the country, and by greater endowments still, make them national universities, or 
should it create one or more new ones worthy of the nation, placing one of them at 
the national capital, where the vast libraries, museums, and laboratories of various 
sorts now existing may be made of use for advanced instruction, and where the uni- 
versity could act directly and powerfully for good in sending graduates admirably 
prepared into the very heart and center of our national civil service, to elevate 
and strengthen it, I believe in spite of pessimists and doctrinaires that the result 
would tell vastly for good upon the whole country, i 

LXIX. The efforts of Jolin Hancock, superintendent of tlie Cincinnati 
public schools, in an address before the ISTational Educational Associa- 
tion at its annual meeting of 1874, at Detroit, in which he said : 

The design of the National University should not be to do the work now done by 
the sectarian and small colleges, but to do the work of a kind that they, with their 
want of facilities for it, can not do. In other words, we need a national university 
to complete the higher education begun in these colleges, no matter whether they 
are sectarian or not; and if sectarian, no matter what their sect may be. It has 
been claimed that the freedom of the American citizen would in some way be in- 
fringed, and that he would lose the spirit of indejjendent self-help if the Govern- 
ment should extend him aid in his efforts to obtain the best education by establish- 
ing a school of learning under its own control. I must confess such fears oppress 
me bat little. The freedom bought by ignorance is of but little Avorth. Besides, the 
argument would apj)ly to every grade of public schools and prove more than those 
who use it intend. 

But, as I have already said, whatever may be our theory as to State aid in educa- 
tion, the practice of the nation has been sufficiently declared. It has recently aided 
agricialtural, mechanical, and liberal education by a generous grant of ijublic lauds 
for the purpose; and many of the States, and conspicuously the one we are in to- 
day, are reaping an abundant harvest from this generosity. Will any one dare say 
that it would have been a better disposition of these lands to give them to great 
railroad corporations, with Credit Mobilier and general political demoralization as 
a result? 

Give us, then, the National University to attract young men to enter upon careers 
of higher culture and living, and into it will gather from all the small colleges 
of the country youth already trained to correct habits of investigation, who will 
enter upon original work in every department of human knowledge — of which work 
we have hitherto had so little — backed by the wealth of the nation. And with such 
facilities as she can afford, we need entertain no fears that her sons will fail to give 
a good account of themselves.^ 

LXX. The efforts of Dr. W. T. Harris (now national Commissioner 
of Education) in sundry ways, but especially in the address by him at 
Detroit, on occasion of the annual meeting of the National Educational 
Association, in 1874, from which the following passages are taken : 

Turning now to the demand that arises for a national university we encounter two 
» Proceedings Nat. Ed. Ass'n, 1874, p. 73. -Id., p. 77. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 77 

new problems : (1) What sliall be its relatiou to the existing collegiate institutions, 
some 301) in number? (2) What shall be its relatiou to our National Government? 

Our oldest and best colleges are all aspiring to the organization which will entitle 
them to the name of university. They have very many professors of such high and 
rare qualificatious as would make them worthy of places on the faculty of a national 
university. But a chief source of complaint with them now is that the degrees which 
they award mean nothing by reason of the fact that iu the poorest colleges one may 
get a degree for qualificatious which would not entitle him even to enter the most 
advanced college. 

In a system of city schools the one higb school measures and reduces to the same 
standard all the district schools. Justin this manner would a great national uni- 
versity measure and reduce to a common staiulard all the collegiate institutions in 
the land. Thus the best institutions of this sort now existing would receive the 
most benefit from such a university, in the fact that their high standard would have 
lanquestionable attestation. Inferior colleges would be obliged to limit their at- 
tempts to what they could do with a reasonable standard of perfection. Their pre- 
tensions would collapse to the solid reality. In a few years the whole country would 
have arrived at a sort of specie basis, so far as college diplomas are concerned. 

But the most obvious and often repeated objection to the proposed national uni- 
versity is drawn from the nature of our national politics. It is contended that we 
have a certain low standard of politics, and that whatcA^er is directed, managed, and 
supported by the state, suffers inevitably from political influence. A university 
founded under the management of our National Government would be the prey of 
demagogues, it is thought. This view is developed and supported chiefly by those 
who hold the theory that our Government should exclude from its fuuctions an inter- 
ference with education or with other functions within the range of civil society. 
This theory has been persistently reiterated in political platforms and political 
treatises daring the period since the formation of our Federal Government. At times 
it has led to legislation tending to purge away certain complications withr civil 
society, which have arisen through various exigencies of war or peace. The history 
of legislation regarding ai national bank, regarding the issue of paper money, or a 
tarifi', regarding various internal improvements nud the status of corporations, is one 
of the most momentous interest to the thinking statesman and economist. Whatever 
violent legislation has attempted, to purge the state of all complication with civil 
society, has failed. Again and again iu our history we have come upon conditions 
which necessitated the interference of Government in aifairs of civil society. In 
latter years, and in proportion as the relations of civil society have become more 
complex with us, such complication has become more and more frequent and inevi- 
table. Internal improvements, foreign and domestic commerce, intercommunication 
money, bonds, and corporate rights and privileges — the General Government can 
not choose but mediate in those things. Its Avar caused it to create a mercantile 
commodity in the shape of bonds to the amount of thousands of millions of dollars 
and throw the same on the market of the world within a period of six years. Civil 
society and the state are only different phases of the same organic human combina- 
tion; iu the former, in civil society, the individual uses the organization for his own 
sustenance and support, and the furtherance of his private ends through the agency 
of wealth ; in the latter, the state, the organization, exists in its unity, and subordi- 
nates all indiA'iduals to its end. 

The State must exist as the logical condition of the existence of civil society and 
the Avelfare or rational existence of the individual. Unless the individual devotes 
his life and property to the state aud acknowledges the supreme right to use him 
and his he does not properly recognize his position. But it exists whether con- 
sciously recognized or not by the citizen or statesman. Now, from the reciprocal 
relation of the functions of the state and civil society as related to the individual, it 
follows that the state as a directive power of the organism as a whole must legis- 



78 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

late regarding allsncli phases as relate to its own self-preservation and perpetuation. 
No other people ever before started such a theory as the one which asserts or pre- 
supposes in some form the denial of an organic relation of state and society. So 
long as we undertake to realize this theory we shall act a farce before ourselves and 
the intelligence of mankind. We shall do i^ractically in spite of ourselves Avhat we 
condemn in theory. 

By a common movement the foremost nations of Europe have advanced to the posi- 
tion that public education is a concern that vitally interests the state. No state 
can allow its productive industry to fall behind that of other nations. Independ- 
ence can not be long preserved on such terms. Directly, as necessary to the war 
material, and indii-ectly as essential to productive industry, the edxication of the 
whole people is indispensable, and the Government can not afibrd to leave it to 
arbitrary private benevolence or to the zeal of the church. 

The great desideratum in this country is to kindle still more the zeal of our legis- 
lators on behalf of public education. To attemj)t to cool their zeal is to work a 
mischief. It liehooves our Government to see to it that education is national and 
not sectional or sectarian, or a matter of caste. On no other nation is this injunc- 
tion laid so heavily. The foundations of our Government rest on popixlar education. 
Other nations have always seen to it that their directive intelligence was educated 
at the expense of the state. They even go farther in our time and educate their 
sinews of war and the quality of their productive industry. We, in America, are 
committed to universal public education implicitly by the constitution of our Gov- 
ernment, which is a Government of the peoj^le by the people. Not only must the 
citizen here be able to read and interpret the laws of the land for himself, but he is 
expected to possess and exercise the requisite intelligence to make the laws which 
he is to obey. All the evils which we suffer politically may be traced to the exist- 
ence in our midst of an immense mass of ignorant, illiterate, or semi-educated peoi)le 
who assist in governing the country, while they possess no insight into the true 
nature of the issues which they attempt to decide. If in Europe, and even in China, 
the directive classes are educated at public expense, how essential is it that the 
Kepublican state shall before all insure universal education within its domain ! 

# if ■» * if # * 

The incompatibility of the ideas on which the two systems of schools — the public 
schools and the college preparatory schools — are based, may be apparent from the 
brief statements here presented. A thorough consideration of the subject would 
exhibit more fully how it is that our colleges, as at present constituted, do not fully 
answer the needs of this country at this time. The problems of sociology and 
statesmanship, the philoso^jhy of science, of literature, of history, of jurisprudence, 
these demand the concentrated labor of a large corps of salaried professors provided 
for at well-endowed colleges and universities. 

It is in this respect that the National University, founded by the American state 
and endowed munificently, Avould prove of the greatest value to the community. It 
would emancipate our public schools from the two-fold danger : {a) the danger from 
the influence of the colleges against the continuation of a liberal education when 
begun in the public high school; (b) the danger of a course of study in the common 
schools that dissipates the energies of the pupil by neglecting the disciplinary stud- 
ies and substituting therefor a mere smattering of natural science. The National 
University, with its endowed professorshij)s and fellowships, would furnish the de- 
sired center for free untrammeled study into the philosophy of those branches which 
are taught only in their elements even in the best colleges. It is the general views 
that we need in our higher education. A training in the philosophy of literature, 
history, and sciences can be obtained now only in German universities; but this 
would be the special function of our National University. Methodology is the final 
tojtic in the course of study ; to understand the general relations of a branch, and ifcs 
method of evolution, is the best thing to be learned; to give such insight is the 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 79 

province of the tiniversity. Whatever waut of adaptation between our comiuou 
schools and hif^her schools niioht arise, would speedily become manifest through ^Jie 
highest link of our system and its causes would be remedied. 

. As to the inliuence of a national university upon our National Govennnent, this 
would obviously be salutary. I'roperly protected from sudden legislation, it would 
soon grow to be an object of national pride, and it would exert a molding inliuence 
njjon education in all the States just in projiortion to its achievements and rank. 
Tlie licpresentatives of each State in Congress would learn through it the types and 
models ol" educational institutions which they would become zealous to found at 
home annmg their constituents. Secondary education, at present sustained by so 
precarious a tenure by the several State and municipal governments, would become 
firm and secure through the infliience of a national university in educating the ideas 
and feelings of politicians into the support of a complete system of public education 
as a necessary concomitant of democratic self-government. It is impossible to con- 
ceive of a more efficient influence in favor of education in this country. It would 
effect far more than the proposed grant of the proceeds of all our public-school lands 
to the school funds of the several States. The great want of our time is not a funded 
endowment of education in the several States, but a conviction in the minds of the 
jieople and their representatives of the essential imj)ortance of a complete system of 
free education 8upj)orted by i)ublic taxation. This conviction alone will render us 
safe. 

It is the trite lament of our time that our Government needs purifying; that it 
should be surrounded by elevating influences. It is the mistake of certain abstract 
political theorists in this country, who would attempt to purify the Government by 
divorcing it from the concrete relation to civil society, that has prevented the growth 
of a science of statesmanship here and has caused the humiliating spectacle of acts 
of corruption done through sheer ignorance of the proprieties of statesmanship. 

When we consider the great advantages that would ensue from the connection that 
a national university would have with the several bureaus of our General Govern- 
ment, and of the digested results that would proceed from the investigation of the 
statistical data there collected from the various j)hases of our social political life; 
when we consitler the effect of collecting, liy means of a vast endowment, the best 
educated intelligence of the time in a university faculty, and the resulting study of 
our institutions by free disinterested investigation, elevated above the atmosphere 
of strife wherein the practical every-day world is immersed, the importance of this 
movement to found a national university is fully apparent. Its advent will correct 
and prevent wrong tendencies in the direction of conniion schools, and likewise of 
colleges and private schools. It will be the source of supply for teachers and pro- 
fessors who shall take up the work of secondary education in the several States. 
From its lecture rooms Avill emanate the science that will solve our social and politi- 
cal problems, and furnish the philosoi)hy for a true statesmanship. ' 

LXXI. The speech of Eev. Dr. George P. Hays, president of Wash- 
ington and Jefferson College, at the meeting of the National Educa- 
tional Association at Detroit in 1874: 

For my part I am earnestly, heartily for a national university by any means that 
will give us success. We do not want another institution chartered as a university 
but doing only collegiate work. We do not want a national university with any such 
pitiful income as two or three hundred thousand dollars. As I understand it, what 
the friends of this project seek is an institution devoted exclusively to true univer- 
sity or post-graduate work, to whose privileges all may come on equal terms, but 
where none shall be candidates for its degrees without the diploma of some college 
of recognized standing^ or after such an examination as shall enable the university 

» Proceedings Nat. Ed. Ass'n., 1874, pp. 82, 86. 



80 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

itself to confer the bachelor's d«.-gree. This institution ought to have an income of 
at least $1,000,000, and so he able to subdivide the fields of study and call to its 
chairs fit men to work them up until the best instruction to be found among men 
maybe had here. 

Have we no national pride, that, having outstripped the peoples of the old world, 
we must yet be tied to them as our schoolmasters ? Every year we have hundreds 
in Europe at their universities. * * * I blush for my country when I see her ex- 
pending her millions for a centennial which shall leave no permanent fountain of 
progress behind, and remember what untold thousands she has squandered on im- 
provements built by fraud, and see that American folly of a bald unfinished pile of 
marble — the mockery of a monument to Washington — and think that a national uni- 
versity is opposed -on grounds of economy! It is time we should rise to the recogni- 
tion of our duty to progress and civilization; and I congratulate the president of 
Cornell, that, though he is at the head of a rich institution, he is above the little- 
ness of a jealousy that seems to be suggested elsewhere through fear lest something 
be put within the reach of our people better than themselves. 

We patronize science in a cheap way in this country. We have sacrificed Kane 
and Hall in a hunt for the north pole, and we have now a few men at national ex- 
pense looking at the transit of Venus, but our aping of scientific manners, while we 
found no unsurpassed university, is like the poor man who sent his son to a rich 
man's house "with a patch on both knees and gloves on." I may not be able to 
help this cause greatly, but my country shall have what I can give to obtain a 
university with the men and means to open to the world a place of learning taking 
the first rank in scholarship and pervaded with the best spirit of American life, 
social, political, and religious^ 

LXXII. The address of John W. Hoyt, before the higher department 
of the National Edncational Association, at its annual meeting held at 
Detroit in 1874. From said address, the concluding passages : 

Certainly no American will deny that self-reliance is an essential element of indi- 
vidual manhood, as well as of a noble national character. It is precisely for this 
reason among others, that we urge the duty of the Government to care for the 
hio-hest practical education of the whole people. For there is no dependence so ab- 
iect as that of a profoundly ignorant man or nation; no self-reliance so complete and 
royal as that which comes of intelligence. Ignorance is slavery; knowledge is 
power and independence. * ,f * * *• *^ * 

As I understand it, the Government of this country is nothing very different from 
a, trusteeship or agency, established by the whole people for the public convenience 
and for permanent as well as present advantage. The Constitution is a binding 
ao-reement of the people as to the purpose and organization of this agency, the kind 
of ao-ents to be employed, the manner of their choosing, and the nature and scope of 
the duties they are to perform. 

Cherishing the theory of self-reliance, the people have not usually deemed it duty 
or wisdom to take of their common substance and give to the individual citizen or 
the individual State, even when such giving would promote a necessary public 
object, unless it has seemed very clear that such object could not, or pretty certainly 
would not be attained without the national aid. But who will say that the people, 
acting through this agency— the Government— are not both competent and in duty 
bound to lend the public aid to all such enterprises not in conflict with expressed 
provisions of tJie Constitution, and in acknowledged harmony with its whole spirit 
and purpose, as are by them, the people, deemed essential to the general welfare, 
and as are either not possible of accomplishment without that aid, or, being possible, 
are in great danger of being too long delayed? 

' Proceedings of Nat. Ed. Ass'n, 1874, p. 98. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 81 

Adniittinjij, for the sake of the argument, the full force of the doctriae of some, 
that government is not to do a public good even unless that good be otherwise unat- 
tainable, the argument is still good for nothing against the object we seek to accom- 
plish, since it is a public good otlierwise unattainable. Primary schools there would 
be without public aid, but they would be scattering in location, irregular and inef- 
ficient in their work, and worst of all, utterly wanting in many cases where most 
needed. Colleges there would be, as any one may see who looks abroad, but except 
here and there, when particularly favored with the accumulations of generations or 
the princely gift of a noble man, they nmst of necessity have a sickly life and do a 
feeble work. While of a great university, with its vast array of auxiliary establish- 
ments, its multitude of learned professors, and its requisite annual income of a mil- 
lion and more, it is hardly necessary to say the hope of such an institution on any 
merely private, denominational, or (sven State foundation must be long deferred. 

Last of all, if the question of means were not involved there is one broad rea- 
son why this public good, the schools the country needs, including the univer- 
sity, are otherwise unattainable, this, namely, that if established and maintained 
in sufficient number, and of every class and rank, by private means, they would still 
not be i^uldic schools, wholly free from the warping influence of private or denomi- 
national aims of whatever sort, institutions equally open to all qualified candidates, 
as well as purely consecrated to the culture of the people, and to the advance- 
ment of science and learning among men. * * * 

The Government cannot now repudiate or reverse its beneficent educational policy. 
The logic of facts and of reason will not permit it to stop short of the most complete 
provision for every department of American education. The jieople are growing in 
their realization of the necessity there is for insuring the best possible education of 
the masses. The variety and vastness of the national resources and the rapid prog- 
ress of other nations are making a strong and growing demand upon the industrial 
arts, Avhich they are powerless to meet without the help of the best technical schools; 
while the conspicuous place we holil among the great nations of the earth, the nature 
of our Government, and the genius and aspirations of our people are reasons deep 
and urgent for a high and thorough culture that must early move the nation to adopt 
measures that will give to the United States a true university.^ » * # 

\ LXXIII. The action of the National Educational Association at the 
concluding general session of its said annual meeting of 1874, in unani- 
mously adopting the following resolution : 

Resolved, That this Association does hereby reaffirm its former declarations in 
favor of the establishment of a national university devoted not to collegiate bnt to 
university work, providing higher instruction in all departments of learning, and so 
organized as to secure the necessary independence and permanency in its manage- 
ment.'^ \ 

Forgetting for the moment that the committee appointed at the St. 
Louis meeting in 1872 was to be "a permanent committee," the asso- 
ciation also adopted the following resolution : 

Resolved, That a committee of this association consisting of thirteen memlters, l)e 
appointed to lay this subject before Congress, with power to appoint a subcommit- 
tee in each State for coojierative ettort.^ 

The committee so appointed was to consist of the following persons: 

John W. Hoyt, Madison, Wis.; Andrew D. White, New York; .John Hancock, 
Ohio; Wm. T. Harris, Missouri; David A.Wallace, Illinois; Mark Hoj)kins, Massa- 

1 Proceedings Nat. Ed. Ass'n, 1874, pp. 183-7. *Id. pp. 138, 139. 

S. Mis. 222 6 



82 A NATIONAL UNIVEESITY. 

chusetts; Joseph Henry, Washington City ; J, P. Wickersham, Pennsylvania; W. F. 
Phelps, Minnesota; D. F. Boyd, Louisiana; Alex. Hogg, Alabama; E. E. White, 
Ohio; Geo. P. Hays, Pennsylvania; Z. Eichards, District of Columbia.^ 

LXXIV. The American Journal of Education, published at St. Louis, 
has ever been an advocate of the university i^roposition. In illustration, 
the following passages from the January number, 1875: 

It must always be a subject of regret that the convention which framed our con- 
stitution voted down the proposition [to include a provision] for the establishment 
of a national university. We hail the revival of such a measure now with joy. 

# * if 

We need the minds, and, therefore, must rear the minds which can jiush forward 
this frontier of knowledge, so as to bring these truths with all their benefactions 
from the further to the hither side, from the barren possibility of being enjoyed into 
actual realized enjoyment. 

And this is just what a national university will acomplish for the people of these 
United States. By its location at the national capital, by its vast endowment and 
array of distinguished ability, by its nationality and by the high attainments de- 
manded for admission to its privileges, it will furnish us the minds that would 
otherwise be delayed in their appearance, to open to us the treasures that lie buried 
in nature's beneficent storehouse awaiting the genius of some scientific Columbus 
to lead the way to their utilization or multiplied adaptations to the diversified wants 
of man. 

LXXV. A tour of the country by JohnW.Hoyt, in 1875, and personal 
interviews by him with leading friends of education in nearly all the 
States east of the Eocky Mountains, to the end of a systematic and 
unremitting effort in support of the university proposition; also, efforts 
at Washington, in 1876, in connection with the revival of the bill favor- 
ably reported by the Congressional committee of the House of Eepre- 
sentatives in March, 1873— efforts finally thwarted by the excitement 
growing out of the electoral contest and by other circumstances occa- 
sioning a further x)ostponement. 

LXXVI. The recommendation of President E. B. Hayes, in his mes- 
sage of December 3, 1877, to wit: 

The wisdom of legislation upon the part of Congress in the aid of the States for the 
education of the whole people in those branches of study which are taught in the 
common schools of the country is no longer a question. The intelligent judgment 
of the country goes still further, regarding it as also both constitutional and ex- 
pedient for the General Government to extend to technical and higher education 
such aid as is deemed essential to the general welfare and to our due prominence 
among the enlightened and cultivated nations of the world. 

It is encouraging to observe in connection with the growth of fraternal feeling in 
those States in which slavery formerly existed evidences of increasing interest in 
universal education; and I shall be glad to give my approval to any appropriate 
measure which may be enacted by Congress for the purpose of supplementing with 
national aid the local systems of education in those States and in all the States; 
and having already invited your attention to the needs of the District of Columbia 
with respect to its public-school system, I here add that I believe it desirable, not so 
much Avith reference to the local wants of the District, but to the great and lasting 
benefit of the entire country, that this system should be crowned wi th a university in 

' ^^ 1 Proceedings Nat. Ed. Assn., 1874, p. 138. *ld., p. 139. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 83 

all respects in keeping with the national capital and thereby realize the cherished. hopes 
of Washington on this subject.' 

LXXVII. President Hayes' message of December 2, 1878, in which 
occurs this passage : 

To education more than to any other agency we are to look as the resource for the 
advancement of the people in the requisite knowledge and appreciation of their rights 
and responsibilities as citizens; and I desire to repeat the suggestion contained in 
my former message in behalf of the enactment of an appropriate measure by Congress 
for the purpose of supplementing with national aid the local systems of education in 
the several States.^ 

LXXVIII. The Journal of Education, published at Boston, in its issue 
of February 3, 1881, supports the university proposition in these terms : 

But whoever carefully considers the present growth of Washington as an educa- 
tional center, can not resist the conviction that, in the fullness of time this vision of 
the fathers will also " materialize," and the national university, perhaps in some 
original plan of organization, will become an accomplished fact. Meanwhile it ia 
interesting to see how rapidly the conditions are being proposed, and the materials 
accumulated for a university of broader scope than has yet been established. * * * 

It is not difficult to see, if these things go on for ten years to come as in the jjast, 
that in a perfectly natural way a central faculty of examination will get itself estab- 
lished as a national university, conferring degrees, arranging courses of study, giving 
not only to the residents of Washington, but attracting the aspiring youth of every 
portion of the country. Then will be realized, even in a grander way than the 
fathers imagined, some of the noblest dreams of that wonderful group of men who 
founded the Republic. The more we study the career of the dozen leading minds of 
that first revolutionary epoch, the more are we compelled to admire their prophetic 
foresight. We are just coming to the point in national affairs where we glimpse 
the vast horizon which bounded their wide survey. Unless we mistake, the coming 
few years aie to realize, in the education of the people, some of their loftiest dreams. 

LXXIX. Advocacy of the national university proposition by Hon. L. Q. 
C. Lamar in his report as Secretary of the Interior, for the fiscal year 
ending January 30, 1885, wherein he said : 

Eighty years ago President Jefferson, then in the fullest tide of his authority as a 
party chief, told Congress that to complete the circle of Democratic policy a national 
university was a necessity and should at once be created. In this he followed the 
recommendations of his predecessors, Washington and Adams, the former of whom 
ten years before declared that the desirableness of a national university had so con- 
stantly increased with every new view he had taken of the subject that he could not 
omit the opportunity of recalling the attention of Congress to its importance. Mr. 
Madison, in 1810, renewed the recommendation, with the declaration that such au 
institution would contribute not less to strengthen the foundations than to adorn 
the structure of our free and happy system of government, and that it would be 
universal in its beneficial eflects. 

This national institution which Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison 
thought so necessary has never been established; and in these later years the idea 
of a national university constitutes no part of the plans of statesmen and seems to 
have been lost sight of by the people. 

In the meantime scientific bureaus have grown up one by one under the Govern- 
ment, with observatories, laboratories, museums, and libraries, until the whole range 

1 Cong. Record, 45th Cong., 2d sess.. Vol. 7, p't. i., p. 7. 
* Cong. Record, 45tli Cong., 3d sess., Vol. 8, p't. i., p. 7. 



84 A NATIONAL UNIVEESITY. 

of physical science is represented by national institutions established by the Gov- 
ernment for the purpose of prosecuting researches embracing astronomy, meteorol- 
ogy, geography of land and sea, geology, chemistry, statistics, mechanical inven- 
tions, etc. If the various commissions, bureaus, and divisions of the Executive De- 
partments at Washington which have for their object the prosecution of scientific 
research could be combined as integral parts of one scientific institution, such an 
institution would be of greater proportions and more comprehensive than any other 
in the world ; and should a university be erected thereon, with a superstructure 
commensiirate with the foundation, it would be without a rival in any country. 

The common-school system, designed to furnish every citizen with an education 
which ought to be a strict necessity for his daily work of life, constitutes the foun- 
dation of our democracy. But this is not enough to satisfy its instincts. In the 
history of nations democracies have been the cradles of pure thought and art. The 
same cause which operated in them exists in American society, and whether through 
a national university or in fragmentary institutions in the several States, sooner or 
later a higher education, higher than the common school or the academy or the col- 
lege can furnish, will alone realize and express the higher aspirations of American 
democracy.! 

LXXX. The advocacy of the university idea by Eev. Dr. A. D. Mayo, 
in Education, March number, 1885 : 

A new claim to our admiration of the father of our country is found in a review 
of his life and oj)inions on the theme which is now so rapidly coming to the front in 
our national life — the education of the peo^ile. 



But his favorite educational idea was a national university, to be located in 
the national capital, under the auspices and supervision of the General Govern- 
ment. * *■ * 

According to the best ideals and the imperative necessities of a century ago, 
this plan of Washington was one of the greatest thoughts of the new American 
life. * * * 

But this noble design of Washington has never been realized, partly from the 
sharp rivalries of States, localities, and religious bodies, jealous of a great central 
institution that would overshadow them all. These rivalries only multiplied by 
the vast and unexpected growth of the country. But there are other and larger 
reasons for the failure. Within the past century the idea of university life and 
of the higher education has greatly changed. The contacts of college life have 
greatly enlarged. A whole hemisj)here of elaborate culture — to some the most 
important hemisphere — has been added to the narrow curriculum of classics, mathe- 
matics, and philosophy of that day; the varied departments of physical studies, 
and the industrial, technical, and artisan training developed by applied science 
and inventive skill ; with immense expansion in the realm of history, philology, lit- 
erature, music, and the fine arts; and, not inferior in importance to any, the science 
and art of instruction. It is doubtful if any university, however magnificently en- 
dowed, even supported by national patronage, could possibly assume the direction 
of the whole circle of the higher education as understood to-day. This can only be 
understood by groups of schools, generously endowed, supervised by experts, and, 
at best, connected Avitfi each other by a bond that is little more than an abstract 
name. '^ * * 

Every large American city has its special merit, and many of them are superior in 
certain lines of power, culture, and virtue to the city of Washington. But Wash- 
ington is the only city which is growing to be metropolitan under the sole influence 



1 Eeport Sec. of Int. for 1885, p. 86. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 85 

of tho uatioTial idea. Tliis is the one spot in tlie Union where no man ean safely pnt 
ou airs of local superiority; where State and sectional pride are of little account; 
where religions sects and social cliques, and even the sharji distinctions of country 
and race, all subside in the presence of the majestic nationality Avhich, like a gracious 
mother, assures to its children the largest freedom, with only the strong compulsion 
of the law that shall make our people one. So here, if anywhere, nmst we look for 
the realization of what Washington saw in vision. 

LXXXI. Advocacy of tlie proposition, in tlio Iiitoriintioiial Eeview for 
December, 1885, by Lester F. Ward. In commenting upon references to 
tlie recommendation of Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior, 
in bisre])ort of 1885, Mr. Ward says: 

But a true university is not a mere school for the training of great numbers of 
young people. It is an institution in which the most perfect appliances for original 
research may be brought together, and where a few who are able and willing to 
avail themselves of them may have the opportunity to do so. The tenor of the Sec- 
retary's report clearly shows that this is what he contemplated by a national uni- 
vei'sity. He regards the existing scientific bureaus of the Government, with all their 
apparatus and appliances, as the '' foundation" upon which to erect a university as 
a "superstructure," thus making a positive aid to the necesssary research that the 
Government must carry on. The whole would thus become a great American insti- 
tute, analogous in some respects to the Institute of France.^ 

LXXXIL Tbe article on a national university by Gr. Gr. H,, dated 
January 1, 1880, and published in Vol. vii, p. 12, of Science. 

LXXXIII. Tlie contributions of Br. Clmrles Kendall Adams, presi- 
dent of Cornell University, in an address on " Washington and the 
Higher Education," delivered on Febriniry 22, 1888; from which the 
following cpiotations are made: 

The time when the Federal Government was formed was the occasion when provi- 
sion should have been made for education in all of its grades. But the golden op- 
portunity was lost. A few saw the 

" Tide in the affairs of men 
Wliicli, taken fit the flow, leads on to fortune," 

but the number was too few to accomplish any result. Alas ! that the nest genera- 
tions were to realize that 

"The golden opportunity 
Is never offered twice." 

If there were not wanting a few who saw the need of more general and systematic 
provisions for higher education, I think it may justly be said that there were only 
two whose efforts are worthy of note — Jefferson and Washington — the one through 
his successful endeavors to establish a university of character in his own State, the 
other through a still loftier though unsuccessful desire to found a national university 
at the national capital. * * * 

The next contribution of Jefferson to the cause of higher education in America 
was still more characteristic of his fertile and jieculiar genius. It was that inter- 
esting proposal of his to take up oue of the European universities and transplant it 
to the soil of the United States. * * « 

But the Genevan ei)isode, though in itself it never for a moment had any prospect 
of success, was not without one important result. It i^erformed the service of calling 

' International Review, Vol. G, p. 539. 



86 A NATIONAL UNIVEESITY. 

attention to fclie weakness of the prevailing educational system. It tended to clear 
the atmosphere of the haziness on educational questions that everywhere seemed to 
prevail. Most important of all, it brought Washington to a decision on one impor- 
tant question concerning which, for a considerable time, he had been in doubt. If he 
did not turn the scheme lightly aside, as a project of no importance, we must sup- 
pose it was because of the really serious and elaborate importunities of Jefferson. 

The father of the project knew that "Washington had contemplated an important 
gift toward the establishment of a national university. But even Jefferson's impor- 
tunities failed to shake the wise judgment of Washington. The idea of a national 
university he was indeed in favor of. But the objections to the Swiss project seemed 
to him insurmountable. He distinctly avowed his unwillingness to subordinate the 
idea of an American university to a foreign body of professors, even were they, as a 
body, to constitute the most learned faculty in Europe. He declared that a foreign 
importation en masse might preclude some of the first professors in other countries 
from participation in the proposed national university. In short, while insisting 
that the new university should be distinctively American in character, he took a 
broadly international view of the subject, and declared that they ought to hold them- 
selves free to choose the ablest professors, in whatever country they were to be 
found. * * * 

Washington announced his views and purposes on many different occasions. 
There are two or three utterances, however, which contain so much wisdom, as 
well as clearness of purpose, that no mere abstract can do them justice, and, there- 
fore, I beg to quote the passages in full. 

Before doing so, however, I would call your attention to the three reasons em- 
bodied in the extracts I shall quote. The first is a postulate, not so much expressed 
as taken for granted, that special, and careful, and somewhat elaborate training in 
governmental affairs is necessary to the political welfare of the country. In the 
second place, he deplores in express terms the going abroad of so many young men 
to complete their education, since, in their formative days, they are likely to imbibe 
political principles antagonistic to the institutions under which they are to live- 
And, in the third place, as if anticipating the very misunderstandings and prejudices 
that formed so large an element in bringing about our civil war, he dwells espe- 
cially upon the importance of bringing the youth from all parts of the country to a 
common educational center of higher learning, in order that, ''by freedom of inter- 
course," and " collision of sentiment," their misunderstandings and prejudices may 
be worn away. * * * 

Thus fully did Washington set forth his views. With what wisdom and prescience 
did he behold what was before the country I He foresaw the sectional jealousies that 
were likely to arise, and he sought to avert them. He deplored the alienation from 
republican institutions that would spring up in immature minds, educated under 
foreign skies. He saw, and again and again proclaimed, the necessity of thorough 
and elaborate instruction in the science of government, and he ardently desired that 
the necessity of going to foreign lands for such instruction should be obviated. He 
knew that private benevolence, even if supplemented with the resources of the 
States, would be inadequate to establish the needed institution. He saw that, of all 
forms of government, those which are most dependent upon the intelligence and 
morality of the people, must make the most careful provision for education in morality 
and intelligence. He was fully aware that the ends which he sought could not be 
attained without the help of secondary as well as university education, and, there- 
fore, he divided his gift between a preparatory school in Virginia, and a university 
at the national capital. 

Thus we see that he labored under no such pestilent delusion as to suppose that 
an education in the mere rudiments of knowledge is a guaranty against the political 
dangers that were to be averted. It was a university — a university in the broadest 
and highest sense of the term, that was the peculiar object of his educational solici- 
tude. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 87 

There is something in the persistency and the nohility of Washington's thought 
on the subject of a national university that reminds us of what occurred only ten 
years later at the capital of one of the nations of Europe. Prussia had fallen under 
the contemptuous displeasure of Napoleon; had been humiliated and well nigh des- 
troyed. Despoiled of her fortresses, robbed of half her territory, her army, even for 
purposes of defense, reduced to a handful of men, to her more than to any other of 
Napoleon's foes, it had been permitted 

" To read the book of fate, 
And see the revolution of the times 
ilake mountains level, and the continent, 
Weary of solid firmness, melt itself 
Into the sea." 

But through the welter of that sad ruin there rang out the clear voice of a philoso- 
pher, proclaiming that the only gospel of salvation for Prussia was the gospel of ed- 
ucation. At the very moment when French bayonets were in possession of Berlin, 
Fichte lifted up his voice in the " Reden an die Deutsche Nation, " in which, 
throughout the elaborate argument of fourteen lectures, there was this ever recur- 
ring refrain: ''Education is the only means by which we can be rescued from our 
present helpless condition. " The keynote of that appeal, the pathetic elociuence of 
which resounded throughout Germany, was in the sentence: ''I hope to convince 
Germans that nothing but education can rescue us from the miseries that overwhelm 
us." And the foundation of his argument was laid in a doctrine which he has con- 
densed into a single sentence. "Education," said he, "education, as hitherto con- 
ducted by the church, has aimed only at securing for men happiness in another life; 
but this is not enough, for men need to be taught how to bear themselves in the 
present life so as to do their duty to the State, to others, and to themselves. " 

The lectures, which were little else than an eloquent and impassioned elaboration 
of this theme, made so profound an impression upon the country, and especially upon 
the Government, that a commission of five of the most eminent scholars of Prussia 
was appointed to elaborate and recommend a system that would embody these ideas. 
All grades of education were remodeled and reduced to substantial uniformity of 
system. To us, in this discussion, it is of chief interest to note that one of the first 
fruits of the movement was the founding of the university at Berlin; a university 
which, now that three-quarters of a century have passed, brings annually together, 
for the most advanced learning the world can give, more than five thousand of the 
most intelligent and the most aspiring young men of Germany. 

It would be easy to point out how the worlis of such men as Niebuhr and Ranke 
and Mommscn and Savigny and Boeckh and Virchow and Helmholz, and others of 
kindred renown, each of whom, in his sphere, has stood at the very pinnacle of hu- 
man knowledge, have inspired the thoughts and illuminated the paths of scholars 
in all parts of the world. But, fascinating as this theme would be, it would be more to 
our purpose to-day to contemplate the effect of this system of education upon the Ger- 
man people and the German nation. It must, however, suffice simply to say that it 
has taken the shattered and impoverished and disheartened Germany of 1810 and 
made it the united and prosperous and confident Germany of the present day. 

And it was work in some sense akin to this that Washington, our Washington, 
desired to do for the American people. He saw and deplored certain disintegrating 
tendencies in education as well as in politics. In the political field, thanks to the 
efforts chiefly of Hamilton and Marshall and Webster, the thoughts of the country 
were so led that when the hour of trial came, the tendency was successfully thAvarted 
and the danger, as we now trust, permanently overcome. But there were no Hamil- 
tons or Marshalls or Websters for the work of education. The tongue of history is 
silent as to what has become of the bequest for a national university embodied in the 
last will and testament of Washington. Certain it is that the general apathy on the 
subject was so profound that the means provided for from Washington's private for- 
tune for such a university have never been devoted to the noble purpose for which 



88 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

tliey were designed. In striving to live, tlie conntry forgot to make provision for 
living well. 

It is perhaps in vain to speculate as to what results would have followed if Wash- 
ington's plan had been met in the spirit in which it was intended and announced. 
But it is at least not difficult to imagine that, if the same wisdom had prevailed in 
organizing our education that characterized our early political history, we should 
have had an educational center that would have shed its elevating and inspiring in- 
fluence over the whole country, and, as Washington said, by bringing the youth 
from all parts of the land together, would have tended, at least, to bind all sections 
of the country into a more sympathetic and harmonious union. ^ 

LXXXIV. The paper of Dr. Andrew D. White, ex-presideut of Cornell 
University, published in the Forum for June, 1888, from which the 
following extracts are taken : 

Two or three years since the newspapers announced Mr. Tulane's gift of over a mil- 
lion of dollars to found a university in Louisiana ; a little later came Mr. Clarke's 
gift of two millions, with hints of millions more, to found a university in Massachu- 
setts; and now come details of Governor Stanford's gift of many more millions to 
found a university in California. During this recent period, too, have come a multi- 
tude of noble gifts to strengthen universities already established; among them such 
as those of Mr. Agassiz, Mr. Greenleaf, and Mr. Boyden, at Harvard ; of Mr. Kent, 
Mr. Marquand, and Mr. Chittenden, at Yale ; of Mr. Phoenix, at Columbia ; of Mr. Green 
and Mr. Marquand, at Princeton ; of Mr. McCormick, at the University of Virginia ; of 
Mr. Crwuse, at Syracuse ; of Mr. Sage, Mr. Sibley, and Mr. Barnes, at Cornell, and scores 
of others. 

All these are but the continuation of a stream of munificence which began to flow 
in the earliest years of the nation, but which has especially swollen since the civil 
war, in obedience to the thoughts of such as Peabody, Sheffield, Cooper, Cornell, 
Vassar, Packer, Durant, Sage, Johns Hopkins, Sibley, Case, Rose, and very many 
more. 

Such a tide of generosity bursting forth from the hearts and minds of strong and 
shrewd men, who differ so widely from each other in residence and ideas, yet flowing 
in one direction, means something. What is it? At the source of it lies, doubtless, 
a perception of dutv to the country and a feeling of pride in the country's glory. 
United with this is, naturally, more or less of an honorable personal ambition; but 
this is not all ; strong common sense has done much to create the current and still 
more to shape its course. For, as to the origin of this stream, the wealthy American 
knows perfectly that the laws of his conntry favor the dispersion of inherited wealth 
rather than its retention ; that in two or three generations at most his descendants, 
no matter how large their inheritance, must come to the level determined by their 
character and ability; that their character and ability are most likely to be injured, 
and therefore the level to which they subside lowered, by an inheritance so large as 
to engender self-indulgence ; that while, in Great Britain, the laws and customs of 
primogeniture and entail enable men of vast wealth to tie up their property, and so 
to found families, this, in America, is impossible; and that though the tendency to 
the equalization of fortunes may sometimes be retarded, it can not be prevented. 

So, too, as to the direction of the stream; this same common sense has given its 
main channel. These great donors have recognized the fact that the necessity for uni- 
versal primary education will always be seen and can be adequately provided for 
only by the people as a whole ; but that the necessity for that advanced education 
which alone can vivify and energize the whole school system, drawing a rich life up 
through it, sending a richer life down through it, will rarely be provided for, save 
by the few men wise enough to understand a great national system of education and 
strong enough to efficiently aid it. 

1 Pp. 17-36. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 89 

It is, then, plain, good sense which has led mainlyto the development of a munif- 
icence such as no other land has seen; therefore it is that the long list of men who 
have thus distinguislicd themselves and their country is steadily growing longer, and 
it may be safely prophesied that the same causes which have led to this large growth 
of munificence will lead to yet larger growths. 

It is in view of these vast future gifts to the country that I preseut this paper. It 
is the result of no sudden impulse or whim; it is the outgrowth of years of observa- 
tion and thought among men as well as among books, in public business as well as 
in university work, in other countries as well as our own, in other times as well aa 
our own. * 

Our country has already not far short of four hundred colleges and universities, 
more or less worthy of those names, besides avast umnberof high schools and acade- 
mies quite as worthy to be called c(dleges and universities as many which bear those 
titles. But the system embracing all these has by no means reached its final form. 
Probably in its more complete development the stronger institutions, to the number 
of twenty or thirty, will, within a generation or two, become universities in the true 
sense of th« word, restricting themselves to university work, beginning, perhaps, at 
the studies now usually undertaken in the junior year of our colleges, and carrying 
them on through the senior year, with two or three years of special or professional 
work afterwards. 

The best of the others will probably accept their mission as colleges in the true 
sense of the word, beginning the course two years earlier than at present and con- 
tinuing it to what is now the junior year. Thus they will do a work intermediate 
between the general school system of the country and the universities, a work which 
can be properly called collegiate, a work the need of wliich is now sorely felt, and 
which is most xiseful and lionorable. Such an organization will give us as good a 
system as the world lias ever seen, probably the best system. 

Every man who has thought to niuch purpose upon this mass of institutions de- 
voted to advanced instruction must feel that it is just now far more important to 
strengthen those we have than to make any immediate additions to their number. 
How can this best be don^? My answer is that this and a multitude of other needs 
of the country can l>e best met by the foundation of a university in the city of Wash- 
ington. 

LXXXV. Tliecoutributlouby ex-PresideutA. D.White, of New York, 
to the Forum in January, 1889, wherein he discusses the need of 
another university : 

Down to about twenty-five years ago an American university was a very simple 
thing indeed. Apart from a few oiitlying i>rofessional departments, it generally 
consisted of the " college proper," in which the great mass of students was carried, 
willingly or unwillingly, through the same simple, single course, without the slight- 
est regard for differences between them in aims, tastes, or gifts. * * * 

That was probably the lowest point in the history of higher education during the 
past hundred years. It had not the advantages either of the tutorial system in the 
English universities or the professorial system in the German universities. Nor had 
it the advantages of that earlier period in our own country, when strong teachers 
came directly into living contact with their students, as in the legendarj'^ days of 
Yale, when Piesident Dwight in the chair grappled with Calhoun upon the benches, 
or of exceptional places later, as when President Hopkins fought over various ques- 
tions with his student Garfield. 

The whole system had become mainly perfunctory. A few students di d well i n spite 
of it, but the scholarly energies of most were paralyzed by it. Anything like research 
or investigation by an undergraduate, in any true sense, was unknown. * * * 

Such universities required little endowment. The professors, though frequently 



90 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

men of high character and. ability, were few and poorly paid, the salaries heing 
mainly determined by the price at which trustees could fill the faculty with clergy- 
men who had proved unsuccessful as pastors. Money was also saved by requiring 
one professor to teach many different subjects, his instruction being considered satis- 
factory if by diligent reading he could keep Just ahead of his students. Much money 
was saved by the employment of tutors, for tutors came cheap. They were, as a 
rule, young men just out of college, "very poor and very pious," who while study- 
ing in the adjacent theological school would, for a small stipend, sit in a box three 
times a day and ''hear recitations." This, as a rule, meant having young men give 
the words of a text book as nearly as possible, or construe Latin or Greek mainly from 
the inevitable surreptitious translation, the tutor rarely discussing the subject or 
making the slightest comment on it, but simply making a mark upon his private 
book to denote his view of the goodness or badness of each performance. 

This was probably the most woeful substitute for education ever devised by the 
unwisdom of man. Occasionally a bright instructor galvanized an appearance of 
life into it, but it was dead. A few great men rose above it, but generally the aspi- 
rations even of excellent teachers were stifled in the atmosphere it engendered. 
Cheapest and worst of all were the instructors in modern languages, refugees thrown 
on our shores by the various European revolutions during the first half of the cen- 
tury; an unkempt race who were willing to submit to the practical jokes of sopho- 
mores for wages which would barely keep soul and body together. 

As to equipment, all was on the same cheap scale. * * * 

Such was the general condition of the leading American universities about the 
middle of this century. Now, all has been changed; the development in the higher 
education, even during the last twenty years, in the subjects taught, in the courses 
presented, in the number of professors, in libraries, laboratories, collections for illus- 
tration and research, and in buildings, has been enormous. Institutions for the 
Mgher education, when they have been fitly developed toward the proper standard 
o± a university, have been obliged to enlarge their teaching force equipment, and 
buildings, on very much the same scale of increase seen in our railroads, ocean 
steamers, hotels, and business generally. * * * 

To found an institution and call it a university in these days, with an income of less 
than a quarter of a million of dollars a year, is a broad farce. Even with that sum 
many of the most important spheres of university activity must be neglected. Twice 
the amount is not more than adequate, and Harvard University, which has an in- 
come of more than twice that amount, is at this moment showing cogent reasons for 
demanding more. 

And the tendency is ever toward a greater expenditure. This is neither to be 
scolded at nor whined over. Just as the material demands of this wonderful time 
have created vast hotels, steamships, and railway systems, so the moral and intel- 
lectual demands are creating great universities. One result is as natural and noi'mal 
as the other ; indeed, all are parts of one great demand. To go back from the pres- 
ent universities to the old sort of colleges, would be like giving up railroads and go- 
ino- back to stage coaches. The gentlemen who purpose to meet this demand in ed- 
ucation by endowing colleges and universities no better equipped than the best of 
thirty years ago, are like men who should offer skiffs to persons wishing to cross the 
Atlantic, or gigs to those wishing to visit California. 

To provide and maintain an efficient university library to-day costs more than was 
required thirty years ago to maintain a large college ; to carry on any one of the half 
dozen laboratories required for a university may cost in these days a sum larger than 
some of our largest universities then required. * * * 

Eegarding the advantages of Washington as the seat of a university, the splendid 
foundations already existing there in men, means, and material, and what might be 
built on this basis, I shall speak in another article. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY 91 

LXXXVI. Ex-Preaideiit A. D. White's discussion of "A University at 
Washington," in the Fornni for February, 1889, from which the follow- 
ing passages are taken : 

Regarding the position of Wasliington as a center in whicli are brought to- 
gether great educational resources, and from which are radiated vast influences upon 
American life, the first main point is, that it is a permanent or temporary residence of 
very many leading men upon whom a university might draw for hs lecture rooms or 
council chambers. In Congress, from which most people expect little of the sort, 
are many who can speak with acknowledged authority on subjects which every uni- 
versity worthy of the name has to consider. * * * 

Next, as to men specially known in literary pursuits, the veteran historian and 
statesman who years ago chose Washington as his residence has proved to be a far- 
sighted pioneer ; others have followed him, and the number constantly increases. 
Everything combines to attract them : the salubrity of the place, save in midsummer, 
the concourse of men best worth knowing from all parts of the world, and the at- 
tractiveness of a city in which intellectual eminence has thus far asserted itself above 
wealth. So well known is this that the various societies of a literary tendency are 
more and more making Washington their annual place of meeting; the American 
Historical Society was one of the first to do this, and others are following its ex- 
ample. 

But it is more esjTecially as a source of scientific activity that Washington has 
taken the foremost place in the nation. It is rapidly becoming one of the great sci- 
entific centers of the world. The Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, 
the great Government surveys, sundry Government commissions and bureaus whose 
work is largely scientific, and many retired officers of the Army and Navy who have 
interested themselves in scientific pursuits, all combine to lay strong foundations for 
scientific activity. * * * 

This aggregation of so many investigators in so many fields has naturally led to 
the gathering of apparatus and means for carrying on scientific inquiry. * * * 

There is no need to dwell upon all the advantages accruing to the country from 
such an organization; most of them can be easily seen; but I will touch on one 
which might, at first sight, not be thought of. The city of Washington is rapidly 
becoming a great metropolis. It is developing the atmosphere which is to give char- 
acter to the executive, the judicial, and especially the legislative business of the 
nation. 

What shall that atmosphere be ? Shall it be made by luxurious millionaires, anx- 
ious only for new fields in which to display their wealth ? Shall it be an atmos- 
phere of riotous living, without one thought of better things? Shall it be redolent 
merely of political scheming and stock -jobbing by day and of canvasbacks and terra- 
pin by night ? In such a future, legislative cynicism and corruption will be, of course, 
for they will present the only means by which men can adjust their lungs to the 
moral atmosphere. Shall it not rather be a capital where, with the higher satisfac- 
tion and graces of civilized living, there shall be an atmosphere of thought upon 
the highest subjects of work in the most worthy fields, of devotion to the noblest 
aims ? Such an atmosphere a great university, with the men and work involved in 
it, would tend to develop, and in it demagogism would wither and corruption lose 
the main element of its support. We may well suppose that some considerations of 
this kind passed through the mind of him whose great name our capital bears, and 
that they were among the thoughts which prompted him to urge, again and again, 
the founding there of a university worthy of the nation. 

LXXXVII. The significant contribution to the university cause by 
Mr. Albert Haupert, in a communication of Fel)rnary, 1889, to the Ohio 
Educational Monthly, from the great University of Berlin, where, like 



92 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

SO many otbers, he liad. been constrained to seek advantages not to be 
found in his own country: 

"Tlie main hindrance to literary and scientific progress in the United States is the want 
of a great central university." In this manner did Dr. Dollinger, one of tlie ablest 
scholars and theologians in Europe, recently speak before the Munich Academy of 
Science. I was so struck by the remark that many thoughts about the matter have 
been awakened by it. The doctor thus not only furnished me with a text, but in- 
spired an entire discourse. * * * 

The main weakness of our educational system, as a whole, is its fragmentary, dia- 
connected character. Just herein, then, is the main necessity for establishing a 
great central national university to be found. Such an institution would at once 
become the most powerful factor for unity in the entire system, and form the great 
center for all educational aims and movements. This is what we preeminently need 
at present — unity in the whole structure, from the humblest schoolroom in the 
country to the most celebrated university class room — consistency, unity. * * * 

Hear what Prof. Lord, of Dartmouth College, says about unity in German schools : 
"It is impossible that teachers of different grades should be ignorant of the methods 
and principles that guide each other. They are all memhers of one hody and icorlc in 
a common plan." In this union lie the strength and superiority of German edu- 
cation. 

* * * * « * » 

Before concluding this part of the subject I would only emphasize the statement 
that a great central university would be the most potent general factor for harmon- 
izing the various eccentric movements in our schools, and then we would have re- 
moved the reproach which Dr. Dollinger has so justly cast upon us. What have we 
as a nation to compare with the universities of Berlin, Oxford, or Vienna? We could 
secure a combination of talent which would become the pride of the nation and rival 
the greatest seats of learning in Europe. Then so many American students would 
not be compelled to go to Europe because they are not satisfied with the attainments 
of the average student at home. This institution is bound to come into existence 
sooner or later, and I am surprised that our Government, whose generous heart is so 
ready to respond to the welfare of the people, has not taken steps with regard to 
the matter. " * * Then our educational system, like the great solar system, 
would have a sun and a center of gravity, around which all the planets and their 
satellites would revolve in unity and unbroken harmony. ' 

LXXXVIII. The address of Prof. Herbert B. Adams, of Johns Hop- 
kins University, before the National Educational Association, at a 
meeting in Washington, March, 1889 : 

It is needless to give further illustrations of State aid to American universities. 
* * * The principle of State aid to at least one leading institution in each Com- 
monwealth is established in every one of the Southern and Western States. » * » 
Turning now from historic examples of State aid to the higher education by individ- 
ual American Commonwealths, let us inquire briefly concerning the attitude of the 
United States Government towards institutions of science and sound learning. 

Washington's grand thought of a national university, based upon individual en- 
downient, may be found in many of his writings, but the clearest and strongest 
statement occurs in his last will and testament. There he employed the following 
significant language: [Quoted already, on p. 41.] 

* * * # # » * 

Here was the individiial foundation of a national university. Here was the first 
suggestion of that noble line of public policy subsequently adopted in 1846 by our 

1 Ohio Educational Monthly, Vol. 30, pp. 193-196. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 93 

General Goveriimeut in relation to the Smithsonian Institution. The will of Janiea 
Smithson, of England, made in 1826, was "to found at Washington, under the name 
of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of 
knowledge among men." A simpler educational bequest, with such far-reaching 
results, was never before luade. Whether James Smithson was influenced to this 
foundation by the example of Washington is a curious problem. Smithson's original 
bequest, amounting to something over $500,000, was accepted by Congress for the 
purpose designated, and was placed in the Treasury of the United States, where by 
good administration and small additional legacies (in two cases from other individ- 
uals) the sum has increased to over $700,000. Besides this, the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion now has a library equal in value to the original endowment, and acquired by 
the simple process of government exchanges, and it owns buildings equal in value 
to more than half the original endowment. During the past year, as shown by the 
Secretary's report, the Institution was "charged by Congress with the care and dis- 
bursement of sundry appropriations," amounting to $220,000. The National Museum 
is under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, and the Government 
appropriations to that Museum since its foundation aggregate nearly $2,000,000. 
The existence and ever-increasing prosperity of the Smithsonian Institution are 
standing proofs that jirivate foundations may receive the fostering care of Govern- 
ment without injurious results. 

George Washington, like James Smithson, placed a private bequest, so that the 
General Government might extend to it " a favoring hand;" but in those early days 
Congress had no conception of the duties of Government towards education and 
science, although attention was repeatedly called to these subjects by enlightened 
executives like Thomas Jefferson, "Father of the University of Virginia," James 
Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. It took Congress ten years to es- 
tablish the Smithsonian Institution after the bequest had been accepted and the 
money received. Unfortunately, George Washington's Potomac stock never paid 
but one dividend, and there was ito pressure in those days towards educational appro- 
priations from an ever-increasing surplus. The affairs of the Potomac Company 
were finally merged into the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which became a profitable 
enterprise, and endures to this day. What became of George Washington's "con- 
solidated stock " of that period, history does not record. Jared Sparks, Washing- 
ton's biographer, thought the stock was "held in trust" by the new company for 
the destined university. There is probably little danger that it will ever be thrown 
upon the market in a solid block by the Treasury of the United States, to which the 
stock legally belongs, unless the present surplus should suddenly vanish, and the 
General Government be forced to realize upon its assets for the expenses of the admin- 
istration. * * * 

Washington's dream of a great university, rising grandly upon the Maryland bank 
of the Potomac, has remained a dream for more than a century. But there is 
nothing more real or persistent than the dreams of great men, whether statesmen 
like Baron von Stein, or poets like Dante and Petrarch, or projihets like Savonarola, 
or thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas, the fathers of the church and of Greek philoso- 
phy. States are overthrown; literatures are lost; temples are destroyed; systems of 
thought are shattered to pieces like the statues of Phidias; but somehow truth 
and beauty, art and architecture, forms of poetry, ideals of liberty and government, 
of sound learning and of the education of youth, these immortal dreams are revived 
from age to age and take concrete shape before the very eyes of successive genera- 
tions. ^ 

LXXXIX. Support of tlie proposition by Dr. Otis T. Mason, curator 
of the ethnological department of the National Museum — 

I Proceedings Nat. Ed. Ass'u, 1889, pp. 267-270. 



94 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

(1) In a commmiication of 1889, to the president and trustees of 
Colnrabian University, from whicli the following, quoted by Dr. J. C. 
Welling in his x)ublished paper hereinafter mentioned: 

In tlie first place, such au institution would draw students from all parts of the 
land, and instead of impoverishing the State institutions would only stimulate 
them. 

Secondly, an increased local patronage might he expected from Maryland and 
Virginia, hut this increment would be small so far as it is determined by geograph- 
ical considerations alone. 

Thirdly, and preeminently, all who have written about this subject seem to have 
entirely overlooked a principal source of supj)ly in the immediate vicinage of such a 
university. I refer to the Government employ6s. There are not far from 10,000 
clerks in our Washington civil list, 2,000 of whom, it may be estimated, are anxious 
for university instruction of some kind; but let us say 1,000. Already in the Co- 
lumbian, Georgetown, Howard, and other law and medical schools of Washington, 
we find 500 persons earning a living by working for the Government, and at the 
same time i)ursuing professional studies. The National Museum, the Geological 
Survey, the Patent Office, etc., are thronged with young men — some of them 
graduated from our State colleges — who would be glad to pursue university studies. 

I have given much thought to this subject, and there is scarcely a month in which 
I am not importuned for special instruction which now can not be had short of Bal- 
timore, in the Johns Hopkins University, i 

(2) By his lecture before the historical seminary of Johns Hopkins 
University on the Educational Aspect of the United States National 
Museum, from which these quotations are made : 

The interpretation of Smithson's bequest, elaborated by the four men whose names 
I have mentioned — Henry, Baird, Goode, and Langley — makes our Institution a great 
world university in the highest sense of the word universitas. The increase and dif- 
fusion of knowledge to all men so far as in us lies, the increase of knowledge by the 
exploration of the heavens, the earth, and the waters for new knowledge of all and 
every kind, and the dift'usion of knowledge by communicating to all the researches 
of all which last is only another name for increase by dift'usion. The Smithsonian 
Institution has come to be a world university for the increase of knowledge, first, by 
research ; second, by publication ; third, by the international exchange, which I may 
be xjermitted to explain at a little more length. 

For the increase of knowledge among men, the Smithsonian lustitution has inter- 
national exchange, its publications, its library, its bureau of ethnology and other 
explorations, and its museum. 

By the international exchange it is the aim of our Institution to put its publica- 
tions and those of the Government into every great library of the world, to place 
its monographs into the hands of every specialist in the world, to afford a central 
oflice through Avhich every explorer for knowledge may speak to every other ex- 
lilorer of knowledge, without money and without i)rice.2 * » * 

By the elaboration of these several points the author makes a showing 
not only of the marvelous achievements of the Smithsonian Institution, 
but also of the instrumentalities and agencies directed by its officers 

iThe Columbian University: Notes on its relation to the city of Washington con- 
sidered as the seat of a national university, p. 16. 

^Notes supplementary to the Johns Hopkins University, Studies in Historical and 
Political Science, 1890, No. 4. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 95 

and staff of scientists, that more than justifies the already accepted 
theory of their practical availability and incalculable value as constitu- 
ent or coordinate parts of the proi)osed national university. 

XC. Support of the general proposition by President James 0. 
Welling, in the iiublication of June, 1889, entitled "The Columbian Uni- 
versity: Notes on its relations to the City of Washington considered 
as the seat of a National University;" from which are quoted the follow- 
ing passages, to wit: 

Suffice it to say, that the Goverameat of the United States makes an annual ap- 
propriation of nearly $3,000,000 for the support of scientific work which, in its sev- 
eral departments, has its headquarters in Washington. * * * j^ university 
founded here might immediately profit by the fruits of that vast expenditure. 

But, in studying the intellectual resources of Washington in connection with the 
possibilities of a great university, it is not enough to consider the educational plant 
here provided, and the eminent masters of science here congregated, but we must 
also consider the special constituency from which such a university might hope to 
draw its patrons and pujDils. 

Washington is to-day a great educational center, not simply because it is a great 
political center, and not simply because it has become since the civil Avar a brilliant 
social center, but because it has become the great scientific center of the whole 
country, and is ttie favorite meeting place of learned societies, many of Avhich gather 
in Washington from all quarters of the laud for an annual exchange of discussions 
and ideas. When Prof. John Tyudall was delivering in Washington, some years ago, 
his course of popular lectures on light, he remarked to me that ho knew of no city in 
Europe which could gather a congregation of scientific workers and original investi- 
gators so large as that which he then met in The Philosophical Society of Washing- 
ton, under the presidency of Joseph Henry. This society, the oldest of its kind in 
Washington is only one of the scientific bodies which surround that parent organi- 
zation at the present time. * * * 

It remains to say that all these great centers of scientific study and activity are 
surmounted, sustained, and replenished by the best and largest collection of books 
in the whole country. This collection consists not only of the library of Congress, 
the largest single collection in the land, but is also supiilemented by important 
special libraries connected with each of the great Departments of the General Gov- 
ernment, and with each of the several bureaus among which the scientific work of 
the Government is here distributed. Every branch of human knowledge has a liter- 
ary deposit in Washington. For instance, under the head of science alone, the 
Smithsonian Institution has a deposit reckoned by more than 250,000 titles in the 
alcoves of the library of Congress. In law the same library comprises an invaluable 
collection of more than 50,000 volumes, covering the jurisprudence of the civilized 
world. We thus bave in the city of Washington more than a million of volumes, 
selected by experts in the several departments of knowledge, and so housed and 
administered in close juxtaposition that tbey are easily accessible to students, 
whether for reference, for comparative research, or for careful reading ; and all this 
without money and without price on the part of the university or its pupils. How 
large a saving of university funds may be effected under this head in Washington 
can be inferred when I recall the fact that the Congress of the United States has 
just made an appropriation of $6,000,000 for the proper preservation of the literary 
treasures of the Government in a national library building to be erected almost under 
the eaves of the National Capitol. 

In the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the most richly endowed institution of its kind in 
tUe couutry (it has a free endowment of $1,000,000), provisiou is also made among us 



96 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

for the study of tlie fine arts. Free iustruction in drawing and painting is given in 
the art school of this gallery. 

To show how all these appliances may he made directly tributary to university 
studies with a vast saving of expense on the score of university administration, let 
me take one or two illustrative examples — say, the National Museum and the chem- 
ical bureaus of Washington. 

The National Museum has twenty-two distinct scientific departments under its 
jurisdiction: The departments of comparative anatomy, of mammals, of birds, of 
reptiles, of fishes, of mollusks, of insects, of marine invertebrates, of plants, of fossil 
vertebrates, of paleozoic fossil invertebrates, of mesozoic fossil invertebrates, of cen- 
ozoic fossil invertebrates, of fossil j)lauts, of geology and petrology, of mineralogy, 
of metallurgy and mining, of prehistoric archaeology, of ethnology, of oriental antiq- 
uities, of American aboriginal potter j-, of arts and industries, comprising under these 
last-named heads numismatics, graphic arts, foods, textiles, fisheries, historical relics, 
materia medica, naval architecture, history of transportation, etc. 

Each of these departments is placed under a curator, and is provided with the 
necessary appliances for original research; and these appliances are yearly increas- 
ing in completeness and efficiency. In addition to these special appliances each cu- 
rator has his laboratory with its necessary apparatus, his working library, and his 
study-series of siiecimens for use in original investigation. In connection with his 
sectional library each curator has access to the central library of the museum, now 
containing over 20,000 volumes, as also to the library of Congress. These scientific 
laboratories are always open to students and investigators who come either to observe 
methods of work or to pursue researches of their own Vv^ith the aid of these appli- 
ances. It should be added, as bearing directly on the problem of university education, 
that each of these departmental libraries and laboratories is of the kind which a univer- 
sity would require if it has a specialist of its own engaged in a minute subdivision 
of science corresponding to that of the Museum. Some of these laboratories, nota- 
bly those of zoology, geology, and botany, have a fuller outfit than those of any 
American university, while others of these laboratories have no analogues at all in 
the best equipped of our educational institutions. Prof. Otis T. Mason, so honor- 
ably known to the scientific world as one of the learned curators of the National 
Museum, can authenticate all that I have said concerning the possible relations 
which this great scientific workshop is actually bearing, and can be made to bear, 
to the cause of university education. * * * 

But, it may be said, what relation has all this affluence of scientific apparatus to 
the special behoof of a great vmiversity in Washington? I answer, much every way. 
A very large part of the sum required for the establishment of a university at Cam- 
bridge, at New Haven, and at Princeton must needs be expended for what is techni- 
cally called ''the educational plant "—buildings, books, costly apparatus, specimens, 
collections in zoology, botany, archaeology, etc. And then large sums must be an- 
nually expended for the preservation and administration of these buildings and of 
these illustrative materials. The necessary expenditures of this kind are reduced to 
a minimum at Washington, for here the choicest materials of education already exist 
under the custody of the Government, and are offered ready-made to the hands of the 
university which is able to wield them in its service. Nor is this all. In connection 
with these scientific departments may be found very many of the foremost men of 
science in our country, and (in certain specialties) in the whole world. I need but 
call the names of Newcomb, of Maj. Powell, of Asaph Hall, of Langley, of G. 
Brown Goode, of Dr. John S. Billings, and of many others to set this fact in a clear 
light. * * * 

Such a university as I here prefigure would come in no rivalry with any existing 
institution under the control of nuy denomination. It would aim to be the crown 
and culmination of our State institutions, borrowing graduates from them and repay- 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 97 

iiig its debt by contiibnting to tluMu in turn the inspiration of high educational 
standards, and lielping also in its measure to train the experts in theology, law, 
luedieine, science, philosojthy, and letters, who siiould elsewhere strive to keep alive 
the traditions of a jirogressive scholarship under the auspices of Christianity. It is 
not euough that our colleges should perpetuate and transmit the existing sum of 
human knowledge. We must also have our workers on the boundaries of a progress- 
ive knowledge, if we are to establish our ludd on the directive forces of modern 
society. We must have our men -who can work effectively for the increase of learn- 
ing, because they stand in this living age of ours on the summit of the world's actual 
achievcnu'uts in every branch of human thought and incjuiry. 

Let us now turn to consider, for a moment, the opportunities which Washington 
offers for the study of chemical science — that science which to-day is transforming 
in so many aspects the private and tho pu])lic economy of the world. There are at 
least seven centers of chemical activity conducted under the auspices of the Govern- 
ment at the national capital.' 

XCI. Support of the proposition by Superiiiteiuleiit William A. 
Mowry, of Salem, Massachusetts, in a paper read before the 
National Educational Association, at Nashville, in 1889, which paper, 
entitled "A National University, a Study," emphatically declares: 

The success of .Johns Hopkins University has been phenomenal. It gives oppor- 
tunities for a higher standard of scholarship than we before jiossessed. It has helped 
to elevate the work of all the cidleges, but it has also served to show clearly the ne- 
cessity of still further advances. What is needed now is an institution far beyond 
Johns Hopkins. The liberality of wealthy Americans has been so great as almost to 
make it seem that it had no limit, but it certainly is not without limit. It can 
hardly be expected that private munificence will be able to establish a university in 
this country with sufficient moans to perform adequately the service required in the 
higher realms of learning. We are, therefore, shut up to the necessity of having 
this needed institution established by the whole people as represented by our National 
Government. That, and that alone, will be able to accomplish this great Avork. 

Again, 

I do not think there could be found suflicient reasons fcr establishing by the Gov- 
ernment a national college of the ordinary type. The State universities and tho 
large number of colleges established in the several States l)y private munificence are 
sutificient for the needs of the peoi)le. If the proposed national university were to be 
modeled after the plan of Harvard or Yale, Cornell or Ann Arbor, or even Johns Hop- 
kins, it had V)etter not be founded. The purpose and scope of such an institution 
should be for higher and broader work tlian can now be done in any existing in- 
stitution. Its object should be largely for original investigation. It should, in 
many departments, at least, aim primarily to reach out to the unknown. Its stand- 
ard should be higher than that of any institution in the world. 

And again : 

The United States should be not only the greatest and strongest of the na- 
tions, but should be the wisest and most V)enc<icent. She has laid a broad founda- 
tion for a pyramid (which should be larger and more enduring than those of Egypt) 
in the general diffusion of the elements of learning for all her youth in our benefi- 
cent system of public schools. Let her now, by the establishment of this national 
university, Vmild securely and strongly upon this basis, and extend upward this 
great pyramid till its apex shall be high up in the heavens, above all mists of igno- 
rance, superstition, vice, and crime. '^ 

I pp. 7, 16. 2 Proceedings Nat. Ed. Ass'n. 1889, pp. 189-202. 

S. Mis. 222 7 



98 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

XOII. Support of the main proposition by Eev. Dr. George D. 
Boardmau, of Pliiladelpliia, in a leaflet of October 30, 1889, entitled ^'An 
American University at Washington," in which occurs the following: 

Let me meBtion a few reasons why, as it seeuis to me, the city of Washington is 
the best place for the jiroposed university : 

First. Wasliington is already the capital of our country. As such it is neutral 
ground for our Avhole nation, the common property of the North, South, East, West. 
If our national university is planted at Washington no one can complain of sectional 
partiality. 

Again, Washington is not only the civic capital of our Union, it is also our scien- 
tific capital, and bids to be our intellectual center. Recall its magnificent educa- 
tional appliances, for example, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, 
the Geological Survey, the Bureau of Etlmology, the Pateut Office, the Army Med- 
ical Museum, the Naval Museum of Hygiene, the Weather Bureau, the Coast Survey, 
the Bureau of H^'drography, the National Observatory, the Agricultural Department, 
the Botanical Garden, the Zoological Garden, the Department of Education, the Cor- 
coran Gallery of Art, the Anthropological Society, the Biological Society, the Botan- 
ical Society, the Chemical Society, the Geographical Society, the Historical Associa- 
tion, the Mathematical Society, the Philosophical Society, etc., bringing together a 
national body of some 600 eminent experts; in fact, nearly all the leading scientific 
bodies of our country now hold their annual meetings afc Washington. Recall also 
the magnificent libraries of Washington, containing more than a million volumes, on 
every variety of subject, open to every inquirer. All these, with educational ojipor- 
tunities, and many others, already exist at Washington and could hardly be dupli- 
cated except at cost of many years of toil and many millions of money. 

Again, Washington is becoming more and more the winter home of cultivated, opu- 
lent families, thus rapidly taking rank as one of the social centers of the United 
States. President White, Senator Haw ley, and others in recent contributions to our 
periodical literature, have pointed out the preeminent advantages of Washington, 
as the university city of America. In brief, Washington is largely, so to speak, the 
nation's sensorium — the point Avhere the nation's impressions are received, and 
whence the nation's conclusions are distributed. 



Having in another portion of this paper made room for an outline of 
the movement of 1849-'52 for the establishment of a "national univer- 
sity" at Albany, notwithstanding the fact that it was not in pursuance 
of the plan originated by Washington and supported by the long line 
of its advocates from his day to the present, and, more than anything, 
because such movement gave evidence of the yearning desire of that 
day; so now, after just forty years of national growth and the multi- 
l^lication of institutions broader, higher, and better equipped than any 
in that day, mention is here made of new enterprises, with similar ends 
in view, lately begun by two of the great churches of America. 

The Catholic University of America, incorporated in 1886, and thus 
begun but yesterday, was inaugurated with imposing ceremonies, on 
November 13, 1889. The event is thus briefly chronicled in the offi- 
cial report of that date: 

The first centenary of the hierarchy in the United States was fittingly crowned by 
the inauguration of the Catholic University of America. Our Holy Father, Pope 
Leo XIII, in his apo.'tolic letter of March 7, 1889, notes the relation between these 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 99 

two events. "Ill tliis matter," he says, " we deem most woitliy ot uU praise. \onr 
inteiitiou of inangiuatiiig the university during the ceiiienary of the estahlishnieut 
of the Ecelesiastieal Hierarchy in your country, as a monument and perpetual me- 
morial of tliat most auspicious event." 

The happy coincidence thus alluded to by his Holiness was an incentive which 
principally spurred on the work of preparation and secured its accomplishment in 
due time. An army of workmen were engaged on the building [for the theological 
departumit] up to the very eve of the dedication ; but when the eventful day dawned 
all was in readiness. The structure was richly and tastefully decorated from ground 
floor to roof. The chape], with its thirteen altars, was exquisitely adorned. The 
professors and most of the students were already lodged in their apartments, ready 
to receive and welcome the host of expected guests. 

The twofold object of this institution is set forth in a spirit of candor 
and courage. It is to be not only a university, but a Catholic university. 
As such it sends its greetings to all Christendom, and also sets forth 
its claims to the confidence of lovers of truth everywhere, irrespective 
of (;hurch or creed. That its purposes may be duly represented, we 
quote the following passages from the formal discourses of those who 
had part in the inauguration. 

From the sermon delivered by the Et. Eev. E. Gilmour, bishop of 
Cleveland : 

Civilization is limited only by education. The civilization of this nineteenth cen- 
tury is but the accumulated results of the world's history. The serpent tempted 
Eve with the offer of knowledge, and the limit was: "Ye shall be as gods, knowing 
good and evil." * * » 

The motive that has brought here to-day the Chief Magistrate of this great Repub- 
lic and these high dignitaries of church and state, and this distinguished audience 
of the laity, is worthy of deepest thought. Kind friends ! you are not here to assist at 
the dedication of this fair building— classic in its lights and shades of art— to the mere 
cultivation of the arts and sciences, valuable though they are. A higher motive has 
brought you here, and a higher motive prompted the first munificent gift and sub- 
sequent generosity that have rendered this institution possible. This building has 
just been blessed and forever dedicated to the cultivation of the science of sciences— 
the knowledge of God. It was well to have begun with the Divinity department, if 
for nothing else than to teach that all true education must begin in God and find 
its truth and direction in God. * * * 

There is a widespread mistake, a rapidly growing political and social heresy, which 
assumes and asserts that the state is all temporal and religion all spiritual. This is 
not only a doctrinal heresy, but if acted on would end in ruin to both spiritual and 
temporal. No more can the state exist without religion than can the body exist 
without the soul, and no more can religion exist without the state, and, on earth, 
carry on its work, than can the soul, on earth, without the body, do its work. * * 

The morality of the citizen is the real strength of the state, but the teaching of 
morality is the function of religion, and in so much is religion necessary to the state. 

In the light of the above fundamental all-important truths, it is not difficult to see 
how valuable Christian education is to society. Education refines society, elevates 
man, and directs all to the higher good. No nobler mission than that of a teacher; 
by office a leader, by talent an inventor, and by genius an originator and director 
of power. 

Gioja of Amalfi gave the mariner's compass; Columbus, America; Watt, the 
steam engine ; and Morse, the telegraph ; and these four men have revolutionized the 
material world. The single thought, "No man shall be oppressed for conscience 
sake ", has given more peace and security to society than all the armies of the world ; 



100 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

and tliat otlier thought, "All men are created equal", has given a continent its po- 
litical faith. 

Now, in the light of these grave and fundamental truths the question naturally 
arises, ''What are the end and scope of a Univftrsity?" — a question that will be an- 
swered according as we understand the end and mission of the education. * ^ * 

The end, then, of a university is to gather within its walls the few who are 
brighter in intellect and keener in thought, and to expand and vivify within them 
knowledge; then send them forth leaders to instruct and train the masses. * * * 

The tendency of the age is to level down ; to make smatterers instead of thinkers. 
Perhaps not since the days of Plato and Cicero has there been less depth of thought 
than at present. Education has increased in quautity, but lessened in quality. * * * 
To break away from the past is the monomania of the day, and he who does that 
most recklessly is the Star in the East. Amid this general leveling down and break- 
ing away we have but faint echoes and fewer voices standing for the truth or giving 
sturdy blows to error. * * * Much has been done, much is doing ; but much re- 
mains to be done to train the few to be leaders. * * * 

In the curriculum of this Catholic University the best in each of the several 
branches will be adopted, and in the light of European and American experience 
improved upon. * * * Let the great ambition of this university be to lead in all 
that tends to elevate our race, benefit ouc fellow-citizens, and bless our country. 

From the discourse of Eev. Father Fidelis ou " The Vitality of the 
Church a Manifestation of God" : 

The work which the Catholic Church has accomplished in this country during 
the century which we are bringing to a close is the same which she has done in 
other ages and in other lands, but she has done it in a new way, and in her own 
way. She has taken hold of new conditions of things and adapted herself to them ; 
and the result of her work is a structure distinctive and typical of the age and 
country in which we live, and differing from anything that has preceded it as truly 
as the church of the middle ages differed from the church of the fathers. And, 
mind you — for this is the point of all my discourse — she has done this not by any 
prudence of human forethought, not by any cunning adaptation of policy, but simply 
because she s a living force, capable of acting in all time and in all places, so that 
siie has become American without ceasing for an instant to be Catholic. * * * 

Therefore, in inaugurating to-day the work of this American Catholic University 
we feel that we are the privileged agents of God in carrjdng on the operations of 
His holy church. If you have read history, however slightly, you know, my friends, 
that the great universities of Christendom were Catholic in their origin. Long be- 
fore the outbreak of the sixteenth century, the old cathedral and monastic schools 
had developed into seats of learning which dotted every land until the youth of 
Europe grew into an army of scholastic enthusiasts. Well, therefore, may we feel 
that in what we behold accomplished this day there is nothing forced, or rash, or im- 
mature. Surely the time has come for such a work, and surely it was fitting that 
the church in America should crown her first century of progress by calling into 
existence an institution which indicates once more her claim to an undying vitality. 
The days of darkness are over. The long winter of poverty and struggle is ended. A 
brighter era has dawned at last. ''Arise, shine, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come, 
and the glory of the Lord has arisen upon thee ! " 

It is proper to add that the university thus inaugurated has a mag- 
nificent location upon a sufficient tract of land in a commanding suburb 
of Washington, adjoining the Soldiers' Home j that besides its divinity 
school, whose building is one of the finest in America, other depart- 
ments are being provided for by the erection of costly edifices, and 
that the institution already rests upon a very considerable pecuniary 
foundation. 



A NATIONAL I'NIVEUSITY. 101 

XCIII. The approval of the Katioii, whose editor, in discuh.siiig- the 
Edimuid.s bill of recent date, said in tlie issue of December lli, 1889: 

It limy l»c laid down as a rule that no i-eal university can exist which is not gov- 
cruoil by the faculty. A university at Washiugtou so governed might be the glory 
of this country, for the riches of Washington in libraries and scientitic collections 
[it might have added scientific men] are now extraordinarily great. 

XCIV. The incidental service of Dr. Frank W. Blackmar, some 
time Fellow in Johns Hopkins University and now professor in the 
State University of Kansas, by his recent History of Federal and State 
Aid to Higher Education, lutblished in 1890 by the Bureau of Education ; 
in which report, while mentioning the attempts to found a national uni- 
versity, he likewise sets forth the manner in which Congress, by 
api)ropriatious of land and money during a period of more than a 
Imudred years, has helped to build up numy collegiate institutions in 
all ijarts of the United States, thus establishing forever the i)rincii)le 
on which the university proposition rests, and in effect showing that it 
but remains to the Government to crown and complete the work thus 
wisely begun by supplying that tiual institution, which the individual 
States can not provide, and yet which alone can harmonize and com- 
])lete the higher education in America. 

From this valuable document one gleans, among others, the follow- 
ing items of land and money appropriations: 

(1) Lands by the township, under acts of 1787 and 1800, amounting to over one 
million acres, for the support of State universities. 

(2) A considerable but unascertained proportion of the money surplus of twenty- 
eight millions dollars distributed to the States in 1836 and never recalled. 

(3) A portion of the three and a half millions dollars constituting tlie share of edu- 
cation in the total proceeds of land sales under the percentage acts of 1841 and later. 

(4) A portion of the three and a half millions acres accorded by dift'erent States to 
education out of the nine and a half millions acres given by Congress in 1841 for 
internal improvements. 

(5) Further imi^ortant sums not deiinitely known, from the sale of over fifty mil- 
lions acres of swamp lands disposed of under provisions of the act of 1850, from which 
source alone the University of California is said to have derived important aid. 

(6) Revenues in a number of States from the sale of saline lands, with appropria- 
tions thereof to the supjiort of colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts. 

(7) The more than $15,000,000 already derived from the lands accorded to States 
by the act of July 2, 1862, for the support of colleges and the mechanic arts; which 
grant has resulted not only i;i the establishment of manj- important technical insti- 
tutions, but also at the same time in such strengthening of the State universities 
that some of them are thus early taking their places in the foreground of the great 
university field. 

(8) The appropriation by act of March 2, 1887, of $15,000 per annum to each State 
for experimental purposes in aid of scientific agriculture in the broadest sense of 
that term, a yet further incidental reeuforcement of the many State universities. 

(9) The aggregate of over $20,000,000 appropriated for the supi>ort of the Military 
Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy at Annapolis. 

(10) The estahlishment, equipment, and support of the Naval Observatory and 
the purely scientific bureaus of the Government at Washington. 



102 A NATIONAL UNIVKRSlTY. 

(11) The large sums of money appropriated for the convenience and support of 
the Congressional and deparfcmental libraries. 

(12) The hundreds of thousands expended in buildings for the scientific museums 
of the Government, and the more than $3,000;000 a year so wisely granted for their 
support. 

XCY. Tlie sui)port of this proposition by Dr. (t. Brown Goode, assist- 
ant secretary of the Smitlisonian Institution and director of the 
National Museum, m papers contributed by liim to the American His- 
torical Association and afterwards (1890) republished under title of "Tbe 
Origin ol the National Scientific and Educational Institutions of the 
United States"; also by his earnest and effective efforts to so plan and 
develop the National Museum as to increase its general educational 
value to the utmost, and thus the better fit it to become an imi^ortant 
cooperative agency when the National University shall have been es- 
tablished. [To the work of Dr. Goode this jiax^er is indebted for a num- 
ber of facts of interest, and especially for an account of the university 
efforts of Samuel Blodget, Eichard Rush, and Minister Barlow.] 

XCVI. The approval of the New York Times, March 10, 1890: 

An institution that would strengthen our whole educational system. * « * The 
subj ect of a national university endowed and supported, in part at least, by the National 
Government has been discussed by prominent educators throughout the United 
States. 

When the ambitious student has completed his college course he finds himself only 
at the outskirts of the field of knowledge, and if his ambition still speeds him ou he 
is obliged to go abroad to complete his education. 

The impression has gone abroad that the American colleges are oj)posed to the 
establishment of a national university. In order to ascertain the truth of this re- 
port a representative of the Times interviewed many of the professors of Cornell 
University and found them heartily in favor of a national university, provided it 
should be organized on a sufficiently broad basis. * * * The opinions of the en- 
tire university are epitomized in the following interviews with President Adams and 
ex-President Andrew D. White. '[Views set forth in other portions of this paper.] 

XCVII. "A bill to establish the University of the United States," 
introduced in the Senate of the United States, on May 14, 1890, by 
Senator George F. Edmunds, of Vermont, 

Following is the record of proceedings of that date on this subject : 

Mr. Edmunds introduced a bill (S. 3822) to establish the University of the United 
States ; which was read twice by its title. 

Mr. Edmunds. This is a special and peculiar subject. • This bill is a rough draft I 
made when I was not well, and it may not be at all perfect. I have introduced it in 
order that the subject may be considered ; and as it is a special and peculiar subject, 
with the assent of my friend, the chairman of the Committee on Education and 
Labor, I move that it be referred to a select committee of nine. 

The Vice-Pkesident. It will be so referred in the absence of objection.^ 

The general provisions of said bill are as follows : 

The corporation to consist of a board of regents, composed of the President of the 
United States, the several members of the President's Cabinet, the Chief Justice of 



lAnnals, Fifty-first Cong., 1st sess., p. 4643. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 103 

the United States, aud twelve citizens of the United States, no two of whom shall 
lie residents of the same State, who shall be appointed by a concuireut resolution 
of the two Houses of Congress. Vacancies occurring to be lilled in like manner. 
The full term of the members chosen to be nine years, and the division to be in three 
classes, whose members shall at first severally hold forthree, six, aud nine years, re- 
spectively. 

Th(^ institution to do post-graduate work and to be also devoted to the advance- 
ment of knowledge by means of researclies and investigations. 

The board of re-gents to have autiiority to create such offices, and to establish aud 
Kiip])oit such professorships, fellowsiiips, scholarsliips, and courses of instruction 
;is they may think proper, and to make proiier regulations for the government of the 
institution. 

The first meeting of the regents to be called by the President of the United States. 
The regents to make a complete statement of the affairs and transactions of the in- 
stitution annually. 

The regents to have authority to secure the necessary ground and provide the recjui- 
site buildings, as well as to fix the compensation of all persons employed in whatever 
cajiacity. 

The sum of •'i5500,000 is approjtriated for the purchase of grounds aud the erection of 
buildings. 

The sum of $5,000,000 is set apart in the Treasury of the United States as a peipet- 
ual fund, bearing interest at 4 per cetit per annum for the support and maintenance 
of the university. 

Tlie regents are authorized to receive donations in aid of the institnf ion ; which 
must be applied as directed by the donor. 

No special sectarian belief or doctrine to be taught or promoted in the institution; 
but the study aud consideration of Christian theology not to be excluded. 

No person otherwise eligible to be denied the privileges of the university on ac- 
count of race, color, citizenship, or religious belief. 

■ XCVTIT. The creation, by the Seuate, of tlie select committee to 
establish the University of the United States, June 4, IStX), and the 
appointment thereon of Geoige F. Edmunds, chairman, and Senators 
Sherman, Ingalls, Blair, Dolph, Harris, Butler, Gibsoti, and Barbour. 

XOIX. The pamphlet of Prof. B. A. Hinsdale, of Michigan Univer- 
sity, entitled "Topics in theEducaitionalHistory of the United States", 
published in 1890, in which, without very positively committing himself to 
the enterprise of securing the establishment of a national university, he 
furnishes interesting facts iu the history of the subject, with such 
comments upon the attitudes of the early Presidents as clearly indicate 
the trend of his opinion : 

The facts as cited suggest some reflections. First, it is apparent that the national 
university idea attracted considerable attention when our present Government Avas 
in process of establishment. It seems, iu fact, to have been tpiite commonly assumed 
that such an institution would bo established when the fitting time came. Some 
may read between the lines that small, provincial ideas prevailed a century ago. 
Not only Washington's ideas, but also Jefferson's, may apjiear strangely inadequate 
as respects ways and means. But we must remember that the whole scale of things 
has increased enormously iu one hundred years, aud that ideas then large are to-day 
small. 



104 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

Concerning President John Adams: 

The lirst President Adams was iu thorough sympathy with all reasonahle efforts 
to advance learning and science. His writings abound in interesting passages re- 
lating to the subject of education. Nor was he restrained i'rom urging a national 
university by any constitutional theories. " * * 

Adams's administration was a troubled one; and he may have been restrained by 
a conviction that no mere recommeudatio]i of his on such a matter would avail. He 
was too familiar with the ill-success that had attended Washington's efforts, al- 
though they were enforced by a protfered endowment. Besides, his addresses to 
Congress were brief and his recommendations few in number. 

C. "A bill (H, E. 1081G) to establish a memorial national niiiversity," 
introduced in the House of Representatives of the United States on 
June 7, 1890, by Mr. O'JN^eill, of Pennsylvania, by request. The preamble : 

Whereas the Government of the United States of America has inaugurated a cele- 
bration of the four hundredtli anniversary of the discovery of America by Christo- 
pher Columbus, to be held in the year 1893 ; and. 

Whereas it is proper that some permanent memorial of that great event should be 
erected at the capital of the nation ; and. 

Whereas the experiment of a free rei:)ublic with a constitutional form of govern- 
ment and an indissoluble union of States has been demonstrated in the first hundred 
years of its existence to be practicable and successful, and the principles of politi- 
cal freedom, equality, and justice have been guaranteed to all its citizens; and, 

Whereas the perpetuity of the Government and the guaranties of its Constitu- 
tion are dependent on the virtue, intelligence, and jiatriotism of the people : 

Therefore, in order to the promotion of the broadest culture in literature, science, 
art, ethics, and political economy among the people, and as a light-bearer to all na- 
tions of the principles of constitutional liberty uj)on which this Government is estab- 
lished, 

Be it enacted, * * * That a university is hereby established in the District of 
Columbia, to be called the American University. ' 

The constitution of the board of curators of the American University 
is left blank. It is to have the usual powers. 

All moneys donated or deA'ised as permanent funds to be principal, and as the 
same accrues to be invested iu United States bonds, which shall remain forever in- 
tact, although subject, as necessity may demand, to investment and reinvestment 
in bonds of the United States so long as available. 

The board of curators to consist of 21 members; the President and Vice-President 
of the United States, the Chief Justice, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the 
Treasury, the Attorney-General, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the 
Director of the Geological Survey, and the Superintendent of the Naval Observa- 
tory to be ex officio members. ■ 

All vacancies in the board to be filled by a vote of a majority of all its members 
at the annual meetings thereof, and all vacancies after the year 1900 to be filled 
from the rolls of the alumni of the university. Any donor whose gift amounts to 
$100,000 to he eligible as a member of the board. 
\ No sectarian or antireligious belief to be inculcated in the institution. 

Free scholarship, under proper restriction, to be in time accorded to applicants 
from the several Congressional districts, to alumni of existing colleges and universi- 
ties, and to each of the Pan-American Republics. ■; 

All members of the university to have access without charge to all libraries, 
museums, lectures, and other sources of information controlled by the Government. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERi^ITV. 105 

No person otherwise eligible for utlinissiou to l)e excliulcd on nceonnt ofsox, race, 
color, eitizcn-liip, or rclijiions belief. 

As 11 means of carrying tins plan into effect, the snni of .$500,000 to bo ajiprojiriated 
for grounds and bnildiugs, and the fiirtlnu' sum of $1,000,000 annually for the jieriod 
often years for the permanent endowment of the institution ; the same to be invested 
in bonds of the United States, bearing 4 per eent interest, payable quarterly. 

I 01. The action of tlie Senate of the TTiiited States on December 17, 
1890, npon motion of Senator Cullom, in contmning- the Sek^ct Com- 
mittee to Establish the Univeisity of the United States durino- the 
Fifty-second Congress : 

Mr. Cullom submitted the following resolution; which was considered by unani- 
mous consent and agreed to : 

Resolved, That the following constitute the Select Committees of the Senate of the 
United. States, for the Fifty-second Congress : *' * .* 

To establish the University of the United States' , 

[By virtue of this action the university committee consists at present 
of the foUowing Senators. Kedlield Proctor, of Vermont, chairman; 
Jolm Sherman, of Ohio; Joseph N. Dolph, of Oregon; William D. Wash- 
burn, of Minnesota; Watson C. Squire, of Washington; Matthew C. 
Butler, of South Carolina; IJandall L. Gibson, of Louisiana; Jolin S. 
Barbour, of Virginia ;2 James H. Kyle, of South Dakota.] 

CXI. The unanimous action of the Senate on March 2, 1891, in fur- 
ther continuing the aforesaid Select Committee to Establish the Uni- 
versity of the United States, as appears by the following record : 

Mr. Edmunds. I ask unanimous consent to move that the select conunittee ap- 
pointed to consider Senatp bill 3822, of the first session of this Congress, to establish 

II university of the United States, may be continued until the end of the next session. 
I wish to say, in asking this unanimous consent, that, owing to the stress of revenue 
matters in ihe last season and other matters in this, I have not been able, as the chair- 
man of that committee, to find myself justified in even calling the committee to- 
gether, important as this measure is. The committee has not had clerk, or messen- 
ger, or stenographer, and does not propose to have. Therefore, the request I make 
will not involve any expense to the United States ; but I hope that the members of 
the committee may be able before the end of the next session of Congress to report 
one way or the other upon this subject of national importance. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Piatt in the chair). The Senator from Vermont asks 
unanimous consent that the select committee consider the bill (S. 3822) to establish 
the university of the United States, be authorized to continue its sessions durino- 
the recess of the Congress, and during the next session. Is there objection? The 
Chair hears noue^ and it is so ordered. ^ 

GUI. The paper entitled "■ A National University, its Character and 
Purpose," read August 20, 1891, by Lester F. Ward, before Section I of 
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its an- 
nual meeting in Washington, D. C.^ 



1 Cong. Record, 52d Cong., 1st. sess., p. 85. 

2 Deceased. 

* Annals, 51st Cong., 2d sess., p. 3656. 

* Science, Vol. xviir, p. 28. 



106 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 



For the same general reason which justifies incidental allusion in this 
record to the Albany and Catholic enterprises of 1852 and 1886-89, 
mention may be made in this place of the more recent university efforts 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Moved, as it would seem, by con- 
siderations pertaining to the educational needs of the country, the 
accumulation of facilities at Washington, and the special interests of 
that particular religious denomination, the Methodists of the country, 
under lead of Bishop John F. Hurst, in 1891 inaugurated a movement 
like that of the Catholic Church above referred to, and have since been 
actively engaged in forwarding the enterprise of establishing a great 
Methodist university at the National Capital. 

The incorporation was effected on May 28, 1891. Omitting the names 
of trustees, the charter of the proposed institution reads as follows : 

Enoiv all men hy these presents; That the undersigned, citizens of the United States, 
desirino- to associate ourselves and to become incorporated in order to establish and 
maintain in the District of Columbia, imder tlje auspices of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in the United States of America, an institution for the promotion of educa- 
tion and investigation in science, literature, and art, do hereby certify as follows: 

First, The name of said institution is ''The American University." 

Second, The number of the trustees thereof is twenty; [their names] ; the said trus- 
tees may enlarge their number to fifty and fill all vacancies therein ; at all times at 
least two-thirds of the Trustees and also the Chancellor of the said university sliall 
be members of the aforesaid Methodist Episcopal Church, and all trustees elected 
after the 1st day of December, A. D. 1891, shall be submitted to the General Con- 
ference of said Church for its approval. 

Third, All branches of science, literature, and art (and more especially the highest 
departments in each) are to be taught in said university. 

Fourth, The number and designation of the professorships to be established in 
said university is to be sufficient to successfully equip, direct, and develop each 
department of instruction therein. 

The trustees of this university have secured a handsome and com- 
manding site, in a desirable suburban district, at an expense of $100,000, 
generously furnished by citizens of Washington, have started a monthly 
publication for the advocacy of the enterprise in the country, and are 
actively engaged in raising contributions to the proposed endowment of 
$10,000,000, with the declared purpose, however, not to begin opera- 
tions until the sum of $5,000,000 shall have been secured. 

It should be added that the enterprise was formally indorsed by the 
General Conference at its last session, on which occasion many speeches 
were made in its support. By way of illustrating the spirit of the 
movement brief extracts are made from a number of the addresses on 
that occasion.! 

From the address of Bishop Newman : 

Great thoughts never die. The American University had its genesis in George Wash- 
ington. His great compatriot, Hamilton, scholar, statesman, aiid orator, young and 
brilliant, drafted a comprehensive plan of national education, with its controlling 



^The American University and the General Conference, May, 1892. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 107 

institution in tlie city of Washington ; at once the sonrce of anthority and the power 
of direction for all institntions of learning-, li-oni the primary department to a 
well-eqnipped nuiversity for original investigation and for professional study. 
Both Washington and Hamilton conceived the idea that the highest intelligence 
is indispensable to the welfare and perpetuity of the Republic; and believing in 
this, they sought to lay plans for the consummation of such a desirable end, an end 
to be sanctified by virtue born of Chistianity. But the inoposition excited conten- 
tion. The cry of centralization vexed the very skies of the Republic, and the jeal- 
ousy incident to the rule of State rights compelled Washington and Hamilton to 
delay the consummation of their wise and benelicent purpose. * * * 

In view of these sad effects there are three things we should demand: First, a 
nation.al system of education under the General Government, with its head a Cabinet 
officer; second, a system of compulsory education in every State and Territory; 
and, third, no appropriation by the nation, or by any State, or municipality for 
any sectarian institution in any part of the land. 

As I said, great thoughts never die. So it is true in regard to this. A hundred 
years have passed, but during that century the thought of an American university 
has been conspicuous in the teachings of the great jurists and statesnu'n of the past 
and has been the dominant thought of those master minds, Jay and Kent and 
Marshall, and in our days of the scholarly Sumner and that great jurist of Ver- 
mont, Edmunds. 

* * S -Jf # « # 

Providence ordains the times and seasons according to an infinite wisdom, and 
raises up men to accomplish the exalted purposes of Jehovah. Educated carefully 
at home and abroad, gifted with an imagination that frescos the future with the 
actualities of the jiresent, endowed with the rare power of organization to prepare 
great plans for the oncoming generations, it comes to us more and more that in the 
roll of the centuries, in the ordering of time, God Almighty, the God of our fathers, 
has selected Bishop Hurst to lay the foundation of the American University for 
American Methodism. 

From the address of Eev. Dr. Payne: 

The time has come for a fuller recognition of the fact that the character of the 
worknow to 1)e done by the Church demands the highest (qualities in the workmen em- 
ployed. Methodism proposes to do her full share in taking this world for Christ 
in the shortest possible time; and her full share is a large share. To meet her re- 
sponsibilities and fulfill her mission she must have the best officers and best com- 
manded army in Christendom. * * * 

And to secure the best educational institutions makes necessary the best educa- 
tional system, the wisest counectional care and supervision, and a loyal, united, 
enthusiastic rallying of this vast Methodistic host to the support of its own educa- 
tional institutions and work. > * * 

Methodism is building for a vast future and for uncounted millions. Let us 
build this glorious temple of Methodism with its marble front toward the future; 
build for the coming generations, build for all the years of time and eternity. 

From the address of Bishop Fowler : 

In this war of the giants our champions must not be wanting. This American 
University, located at the heart of the nation, not far from the most distant home, 
with vast accumulations of appliances, and to offer the utmost possible advantages, 
can not wait long for any good thing. AVe can not afford to miss our opportunity. 
God never forgives a blunder. Historj'^ moves forward, and destiny approaches by 
the most certain and discernible laws. Spain can not consign scores of thousands of 
her most industrious, most intelligent subjects to the torture of the In([uisition with- 
out suffering severe loss in her wealth. It is not the most profitable use to make of 
able and skilled citizens. No wonder Spain was transferred from the banker to the 
pauper of the race. * * » 



108 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

These blunders areuever forgLven. If we fail to see our day of opportuuit.y, we 
shall drop into the rear, and cease to do our part for the evangelization of this land 
and this world, and that sad voice from the broken-hearted watcher of Olivet will 
come to us: ''O Methodism, Methodism; if thou hadst known, even thou, at least 
in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace !" 

From the address of Rev. Dr. McCabe: 

If the past is prophetic of the future, this American University will have much 
to do with the cause of missions. The name of a university professor is a household 
word in Methodism, because it is connected with that all-conq uering theology which 
is believeable and preachable, and Avhich is destined to take the world — James 
Arminius, of the University of Leyden. * * * 

Now it is our purpose to establish in Washington a training school for missionries, 
where they will have every facility to learn languages and customs and manners of 
the countries to which we projjose to send them. * '' * 

Another feature of our work will be to bring to our country the highest minds of 
the Orient and educate them, and send them back to their homes saturated with 
the love of liberty and the love of God and of His Son Jesus Christ. 

From the address of Eev. Dr. Basbford: 

The cost of maintaining the college in a large city, the diversion of young and im- 
mature minds through the entertainments of city life, the prevalence of the commer- 
cial spirit, and, above all, the difficulty of bringing spiritual forces to bear in the 
most effective manner, may lead the Church for generations to maintain her colleges 
in more retired localities. But the great cities are absolutely essential to university 
work. The demand for concentration and study amidst the Avhirl of business and 
entertainment is in itself a discipline for professional students. The great hospitals 
and courts of law, the leading pulpits, the galleries of art, and the great libraries 
are absolutely essential to the professional student. But what great city is more fa- 
vorable to university work than the capital of the nation? The University of Paris 
at the capital of France, is the largest university in the world. The history of the 
University of Berlin is a more striLing illustration of this principle. It is a modern 
university, organized less than a century ago. It was planted in a nation full of 
universities. And yet with the marvelous advantages of the capital of that great em- 
pire Berlin University has become within three-quarters of a century the leading 
university of the world. 

From the address of Bishop Thoburu : 

Every nation, like every individual, has a personal mission, a personal responsi- 
bility. God gives to a nation as to an individual an opportunity. He lays upon 
every nation its responsibility. A nation will be held responsible for what is given 
it, as an individual would be. The position of America is unique. There has never 
been a great i^ower in human history that occupied such a position as we occupy in 
the world to-day ; and I think one of the great questions which the American peo- 
ple have not yet fully settled is that of the mission of their own nation in the world. 
I fear the prevailing opinion is that we have been put in this western world, with 
superb opportunities, simply that we might become the greatest people on the globe. 
If that foolish conceit takes possession of us, as a people, we are lost. * * * My 
own conviction has long been that the mission of America in the world is that of be- 
ing the missionary nation of modern times — a great agent in the hands of God in 
bringing all the nations of this world to Christ. * * * 

Education maintains a prominent place in mission work, and I believe that in the 
fullness of time this university idea has been started. 

From the address of Rev. Dr. Moore : 

But the university period has only dawned in America. Its harbingers have been 
many, but itself is not older than the opening of Johns Hopkins. It must certainly 



A NATIONAT. ITNIVP:RSITY. 109 

1)0 oratifyini? to ISroMioilists that thus early the. ])laus are matixnHl and the enter- 
prise anspieiously inana^nrated to fomul iii our national capital a Methodist institu- 
tion, which shall bo au university in the broadest sense of the term, the scope of 
whose work is sui^gested by tlio fact that it do(^s not ]>roj)oso to open its doors until 
it has an endowment greater than that gathered by all theii'istitutiousof our church 
in a hundred years. 



CIY. Thy action of the Human Freedom Leaj^'ue at the time of its 
organization in Independence Hiill, Philiulelphia, on the 11th of Octo- 
ber, 1891, by rcsohition including among its duties and responsibiUties 
that of promoting tlie estabhshment of a national university; said reso- 
lution being as follows : 

(3) To take up the work outlined by George Washinglnn in his will, whereby he 
left a laige shai-e of his property for the purpose of endowing a university where 
the youth of the country might be educated in statecraft, and push the same to a 
successful conclusion. Such a university should be national, and yet have its doors 
always open to the youth of eA^ery land. 



r 



CV. The reading of a paper entitled, "The National Debt of 
Honor," by Dr. George Brown Goode, of the Smithsonian Institution, at 
a meeting of the general committee of the Fan-Republic Congress, held in 
the Academy of Music at Philadelphia, on the 13th of October, 1891; 
which paper, besides presenting the main facts of Washington's eflbrts lor 
a mitional nniversity, as herein mentioned, strongly urges the obliga- 
tion of the nation, not only to establish and liberally endow such au 
institution, but to make good the full amount of the bequest intended 
by him to be the beginning of its endowment, and concludes with an 
indorsement of the national committee's plan of the proposed institu- 
tion, and with a moving appeal in behalf of the great enterprise: 

Congress has, however, failed to extend its direct patronage to any educational en- 
terprise of the highest grade. Unlike most of the governments of the old world, it 
supports no faculties of learned men whose duty it is to discover truth and give it to 
the world. It has not yet provided a national university so excellent that it is not 
necessary, in the language of Washington, " for the youth of the United States to mi- 
grate to foreign countries in order to acquire the higher branches of education." 
While it has established a great system of schools under the patronage of the several 
States, it has failed to provide a central institution which shall serve as a model for 
all the others, train teachers for their faculties, afford their scholars post-graduate 
instruction, and add character and dignity, intellectual and moral, to the nation's 
capital. * * "\ 

The sum of $4,401,000 [amount of Washington's bequest with compound interest 
to the present time], if appropriated for this purpose by Congress, and placed in the 
Treasury of the United States, there to remain paying interest at 6 per cent, would 
yield over $264,000 each year, a sum that would provide for many professorships, 
lectureships and schidarships, and fellowships, as well as for the current expenses 
of several seminaries or colleges. Private gifts would in time be added in large 
amounts, and Congress would of course erect stich buildings as from time to time 
were found necessary. * * * 

Among the various plans for the organization and government of a national uni- 
versity, that proposed by Governor John W. Hoyt, of Wyoming, and embodied in a 



110 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

bill nnaniraously reported by a committee of the House of Representatives, in 1873, 
is by far the best, and, in its practical features, seems all that could be desired. 
This bill received the approval of Charles Sumner, Joseph Henry, Louis Agassiz, 
Spencer F. Baird, John Eaton, William T. Harris, as well as many other distinguished 
citizens, and had the sanction of the National Educational Association. 

CVI. The adoption, by the Pan-Eepublic Congress General Com- 
mittee of Three Hundred, of the following preamble and resolution offered 
by John W. Hoyt, at the conclusion of the paper read by Dr. Goode, of 
the Smithsonian Institution, on the 13th of October, 1891, as above re- 
cited : 

Whereas, this general committee, formed for the purpose of advancing the cause 

of peace and liberal government throughout the world by means of a succession of 

congresses of the representatives of all civilized lands, could yet further contribute 

'to these great ends by encouraging such organizations and enterprises as look to the 

increase of knowledge and of liberal thought among men; and 

Whereas, it is manifest that a truly national university established at the seat of 
government of the United States, and aiming, first, to crown the present incomplete 
system of American education ; secondly, to promote the advancement of knowledge 
by means of the researches and investigations of its members as well as by its influ- 
ence upon the science and learning of other lands; and, finally, to encourage a larger 
intellectual intercourse and community of feeling among the leading minds of the 
world, would at once prove conservative of our own free institu.tions, strengthen the 
bonds of fraternity among all peoples, and contribute to the betterment of govern- 
mental institutions everywhere ; and 

Whereas, it appears from the records of history, not only that on this very spot 
sacred to liberty and independence the importance of such a university was urged 
by the framers of the American Constitution, but that several of the Presidents, in- 
cluding George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James 
Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes, pressed its 
early establishment as a patriotic duty ; that President Washington even remembered 
it with a liberal gift in his dying bequest ; "" * that the proposition to establish it 
has been sanctioned by other leading statesmen throughout the period of our national 
history, and, finally, that such proposition has been thrice unanimously indorsed by 
that great body of American educators, the National Educational Association; 
therefore. 

Resolved, That in order to aid in the founding of such an institution, the chairman 
of this general committee is hereby requested to appoint a special committee consisting 
of one or more members from each of the States and Territories, whose duty it shall 
to be adopt and carry forward such measures to this end as to them shall seem proper ; 
reporting to this committee in their discretion, or as required from time to time, and 
in particular at the time and place of the Pan-Republic Congress to be held in the 
year 1893. 

The following committee was appointed : 

John W. Hoyt, Laramie, Wyo., chairman; Dr. G. Browne Goode, Smith- 
sonian Institution ; ex-President Andrew D. White, Ithaca, N. Y. ; Dr. Edward 
Everett Hale, Boston; President A. S. A.ndrews, Southern University, Greens- 
boro, Ala.; Rev. Dr. Geo. D. Boardman, Philadelphia; Dr. Chas. B. Cadwal- 
lader, Philadelphia; President Thomas J. Burrell, University of Illinois; Hon. 
J. W. Anderson, State superintendent public instruction, Sacramento, Cal. ; 
Hon. Harvey L. Vories, State superintendent public instruction, Indianapolis, 
Ind. ; President John R. Winston, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; 
Dr. James Hall, State geologist, Albany, N. Y. ; ex-President Horace M. Hale, 



r 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. Ill 

University of Colorado; Hou. Edwin F. Palmer, .State superintendent public 
instruction, Waterbury, Vt. ; ex-Senator J. W. Patterson, Concord, N. H. ; Dr. 
James Grant Wilson, New York City; Hon. Albert J. Kussoll, State su])erin- 
tendent public instruction, Tallahassee, Fla. ; Hon. Cortez Salmon, State super- 
iutend(>nt public instruction, Pierre, S. Dak.; President Francis E. Nipher, 
Academy of Science, St. Louis, Mo. ; Dr. Charles C. Jones, Augusta, Ga. ; Hon. 
J. R. Preston, State superintendent public instruction, Jackson, Miss. ; Dr. M. 
Scheie de Vere, University of Virginia; Hon. William Wirt Henry, Richmond, 
Va. ; President Newton Batemau, Knox College, Galesburg, 111. ; Hon. J. W. 
Dickinson, secretary State board of education, Boston, Mass.; Hon. Thomas 
B. Stockwell, State commissioner of schools, Providence, R. I. ; Dr. Frank H. 
Kasson, editor of Education, Boston, Mass.; Dr. H. B. Adams, Johns Hopkins 
University, Baltimore, Md. ; President T. C. Chamberlin, State University of 
Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. ; Rt. Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, Protestant Episcoi>al 
bishop of Wyoming and Idaho ; Hon. S. M. Finger, State superintendent public 
instruction, Raleigh, N. C. ; President J. C. Gilchrist, University of Northwest, 
Pierre, S. Dak.; Hon. Gardner G. Hubbard, Washington, D. C; Col. W. O. 
McDowell, editor of Borne and Country, Newark, N. J. 

CVII. The address of John W. Hoyt before the Philosophical So- 
ciety, at Washingtou, in October, 1891, by request of that body. 

CVIII. The preparation and wide circulation, by John W. Hoyt, 
of a leaflet late in 1891, wherein were set forth the claims of the pro- 
posed National University; the same being an outline of this present 
paper, to wit: 

A great and true university the leading want of American education. 

The offices of a true university. 

Reasons why the Government should establish such a university. 

Reasons for founding such a university at Washingtou. 

Summary of the notable efforts hitherto made in this behalf. 

Reasons for a renewal of such efforts at this time. 

The proposition of to-day. 

The conditions of success. 

OIX. The interest manifested in various ways and at different times 
during the past twenty years by numerous distinguished citizens in all 
portions of the country, including, besides those already named: 

(1) Such leading educators as — 

President Thomas Hill, of Cambridge, Mass. ; President F. A. P. Barnard, of 
Columbia College, New York; President Alexander W. Winchell, of Syra- 
cuse University, New York; President Erastus O. Haven, of Michigan Uni- 
versity; President J. L. Pickard, of Iowa State University; President Paul 
A. Chadbourne, of Wisconsin State University; Dr. Henry Barnard, United 
States Commissioner of Education; President J. M. Gregory, of Illinois State 
University; President J. M. Bowman, of Kentucky University; President W. 
G. P^Uiot, of Washington University, St. Louis; President Newton Bateman, 
of Knox College, Illinois; President David S. Jordan, of Leland Stanford, jr.. 
University; President George T. Winston, University of Mississippi; Dr. M. 
Scheie de Vere, University of Virginia; President A. S. Andrews, of the South- 
ern University, Alabama; President Thomas J. Burrill, University of Illinois; 
President T. C. Chamberlin, University of Wisconsin; President Horace M. 
Hale, University of Colorado; President James B. Angell, University of Mich- 
igan; President Francis Wayland, of Brown University. 



112 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

(2) Siiperinteiiclents of public instruction in nearly all the States; 
the unanimity and cordiality of their support resulting from a convic- 
tion of the great service a national university would render to the 
whole system of public schools. 

(3) Such eminent scholars, scientists, and promoters of science as — 

Et. Eev. Bishop Alouzo Potter, New York; Dr. Henry P. Tappan, chancellor 
of the University of Michigan; Prof. Arnold Henry Guyot, Princeton; Dr. Alex. 
Dallas Bache, early snperintendent of Coast Snrvey; Prof. Benjamin Peirce, 
former snperintendent of Coast Survey; Prof. Spencer F. Baird, former Secre- 
tary of Smithsonian Institution; Prof. H. V. Hayden, United States Geologist; 
Prof. John W. Powell, Director of the U. S. Geological Survey ; Prof. Benja- 
min Apthorp Gould, astronomer; Prof. Ormsby M. Mitchell, astronomer; 
Prof. J. Lawrence Smith, president American Association Advancement of 
Science; Admiral Sands, former Snj)erintendent of National Observatory; 
Lieut. M. F. Maury, former Superintendent of the Naval Observatory ; Dr. S. 
P. Langley, present Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution ; Dr. Simon New- 
comb, Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac; Prof. James C. Watson, as- 
tronomer,Michigan and Wisconsin State Universities; Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, 
present Superintendent of the Coast Survey; Dr. James Hall, State geologist. 
New York; Dr. F. Nipher, president Academy of Science, St. Louis; Hon. 
Edwin Willits, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture ; Dr. Mark W. Harrington, 
Chief of the Weather Bureau; Dr. J. S. Billings, Superintendent United 
States Medical Museum; Gen. A. W. Greely, Chief of the United States 
Signal Office; Gardner G. Hubbard, president National Geographical So- 
ciety; Dr. Persifer Frazer, of Philadelphia; Rt. Rev. William Paret, Bishop 
of Maryland; Rt. Eev. Thomas M. Clark, of Providence; President William 
R. Harper, University of Chicago; Prof. Hinsdale, of Michigan UniA^ersity; 
Dr. J. C. Pumpelly, of New York; Dr. Clark Ridpath, of Indiana; Prof. E. 
P. Powell, of New York; Dr. Edward Everett Hale, of Massachusetts; Dr. 
Frank W. Kasson, editor of Education; Dr. James Grant Wilson, of New 
York; Rt. Rev. Thos. A. Starkey, Bishop of Newark. 

(4) Such distinguished statesmen, not already cited, as — 

Ex-President Grover Cleveland, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Gen. W. T. 
Sherman, Senator Justin S. Morrill, Senator Carl Schurz, Senator Stanley 
Matthews, Senator James R. Doolittle, Senator Redtield Proctor, Senator John 
Sherman, Senator Charles F. Manderson, Senator W. F. Vilas; also, many 
members of the House of Representatives, such as Samuel Shellabarger, George 
F. Hoar, James A. Gariield, and William A. Wilson. 

ex. The steps already taken toward the organization of a l!^ational 
University Association of the United States, to be composed of many 
of the most eminent citizens of the country, and to have for its sole 
object the furtherance of this great enterprise. 



n 



In view of this record of more than a hundred years, showing how 
deeply the subject of a jSTational University has interested a great num- 
ber of citizens, not a few of them foremost in the history of the Ee- 
jKiblic, the question arises, Why all this effort with so Uttle of visiblo 
result? 



A NATIONAL UNIVEKSITY. 113 

The ansvrer is not difflcult. At the opciiinfr of this paper certain 
positive hindrances were pointed ont and coniniented npon. Althongh 
these have been almost entirely overcome in the natural course of 
events, so that to day they do not appear an important factor, yet it is 
true that throughout the greater part of the period since the move- 
ment was begun by George Washington they were together sufficient 
to cause much embarrassment and long delay. But there is also to be 
assigned a negative reason of very great importance, namely, the lack 
of systematic cooperation on the part of those who have been friends 
of the measure. 

Steps in this direction were taken in the palmy days of Joseph Henry, 
Alexander Dallas Bache, Louis Agassiz, James Apthorp Gould, James 
Hall, Bishop Potter of New York, Prof. Benjamin Peirce, and their many 
distinguished associates, as we have seen, but were not persevered in 
because of the gathering of the storm which shortly after burst with 
so much fury upon the country. The same is also partly true of the 
university committee of the National Educational Association, whose 
labors were interrupted for a time by the circumstances hereinbefore 
mentioned, but whose active work has been at length resumed with 
even more than the old zeal and energy. 

It is certainly true, in a general sense, that the National University 
cause has been without the necessary help of organized agencies. The 
great amount of work done has been individual, intermittent, unrelated ; 
and hence it is that all who are in sympathy with the enterprise may 
hail with satisfaction, as the concluding memorandum of this summary, 
the announcement of such cooperation of forces in future as will prove 
helpful to the worthy statesmen destined to be eifective leaders of the 
movement in C ongress, and thus assure to it an earlier victory. 
S. Mis. 222 8 '^^ 



V. 

REASONS FOR RENEWED EFFORT AT THIS TIME. 

The chief reasons for reviving the question at this time are these : 

First. The general education bill, so long before Congress, having been 
disposed of, there is no longer any obligation on the part of the friends 
of the national university proposition to remain quiescent, as they were 
willing to do while they who were committed to that measure were still 
hopeful of victory. 

Second. The failure of the general education bill should but consti- 
tute a new reason for the passage of a bill to establish a great univer- 
sity. Not alone because, having failed to pass one measure in the in- 
terest of education. Congress should be all the more ready, and find it 
the more easy, to favor another of equal or greater importance, but also 
because the chief objection to that measure in no manner applies to this 
one. For, if it be true that the people in the several States, districts, 
and neighborhoods are abundantly able to provide schools of the lower 
grade for the youth of the land, the same is certainly not true of the 
people in their local and individual capacity in relation to a central 
university of the highest type. ISTo one man, no one community, no one 
State is equal to the establishment of such an institution. And if that 
were possible, in so far as means are concerned, still it is manifest that 
neither community nor State, nor even the most powerful of the relig- 
ious organizations, could possibly establish and maintain a national 
university. That is a sole prerogative of the whole people in their leg- 
islative capacity. On Congress alone that great obligation rests. 

Third. The present condition of the country, now fairly recovered from 
the industrial and commercial depression of recent years, with new 
buoyancy of spirit, and with hopes well founded on census returns that 
astonish the world and establish oar superiority among the nations, is 
exceedingly favorable. It is now beyond question that the Government 
of the United States could henceforth pay at least a million a year as 
interest on a registered certificate and not feel the draft in any degree. 

Fourth. It is no less true that the public mind, which in recent years 
has been slowly but surely coming to the opiuion that President Hill, 
of Harvard, was right when in his last of&cial report he said "a true 
universityis a leading want of American education," is now ready to un- 
dertake the supply of that want. 

As we have seen, prominent educators, leading scholars, and scien- 
tists, distinguished statesmen, and great organizations of men, educa- 
114 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 115 

tional, scifMitific, literary, patriotic, and i)bilaiithropic, have strongly 
confirmed the truth of this declaration; while powerful organizations 
of the church, both Catholic and Protestant, have also considered the 
question, resolved, and begun to act. It is seen that the rapid growth 
aud present enormous value of university facilities at Washington are 
now so well known as to constitute a great attraction for students, 
scholars, and scientists the world over when brought into relations with 
a national university. 

Fifth. This circumstance of a movement for a university at Wash- 
ington, by two powerful church organizations is highly favorable to 
the early establishment of a national university. They are both of 
them effective agitators of great questions, and will be preeminently 
influential with the masses, who alone of all the i^cople may need to be 
convinced. Both because of their philanthropic aims and of the help- 
ful pioneer work they will of necessity do, we may bid such organized 
efforts Godspeed. There is room enough for all. Should they each 
succeed in founding an important institution they will simply swell the 
grand chorus and contribute yet more to make of the national capital 
the intellectual center of the world. 

And if, on the other hand, seeing that the nation itself is to found the 
American university, they and the multitude of like organizations 
should each see fit to concentrate their efforts upon great S(;hools of 
theology to be clustered about the national university as a high cen- 
tral source of general instruction and of inspiration for all, then this 
grand unity of all in the cause of pure learning and of progress in 
science and the arts- would only yet more enhance the dignity of the 
university itself, yet further promote the great interests of American 
education, and contribute yet more to brighten the halo which already 
encircles the brow of the Republic. 

Sixth. The present is also a favorable time from a i)olitical j^olnt of 
view, since with the present constitution of the natioiuil legislature the 
honor of founding the proposed institution may and must be equally 
shared by the two great political parties; since, moreover, there is 
reason to believe that of late there have been important accessions in 
both Houses of Congress to the very considerable body of jnembers 
known to have been favorable to this enterprise from the beginning of 
its agitation in recent years. 

Seventh. The present time is auspicious for the reason that numbers 
of men of vast fortunes and of honorable ambitions are now in the 
spirit of making large contributions to education. The Hopkinses, Yan- 
derbilts, Drexels, Clarks, Tulanes, Rockefellers, Stanfords, Carnegies, 
and Fayrweathers have only set examples which a much larger number 
are preparing to follow. And hence it is again urged that if CongTess 
should now establish and liberally endow the national university, gifts 
of many millions for the founding of fellowshi]>s, professorships, facul- 
ties, and departments, would How into its treasury as contributions to 
the vast aggregate sum that will thus constitute its final endowment. 



116 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

Eighth. ISTow is the appointed time for historic reasons. Action by 
the present Congress would enable ns to make the beginnings of the 
national university a part of the great Columbian celebration in 1893, 
and its proper inauguration a most fitting centennial commemoration 
of Washington's last earnest appeal in its behalf to the people and 
Congress of the United States, in 1796. It was with the help of science 
that Christopher Columbus found these wonderful new continents, and 
hence America could not more truly honor him than by inaugurating on 
the four hundredth anniversary of his discovery an institution of learn- 
ing sublimely dedicated not alone to the diffusion of knowledge, but 
also to the discovery of unnumbered continents of truth in the coming 
centuries. The Columbian Exposition will of itself be a grand but a 
vanishing monument. Let us also, in commemoration of the achieve- 
ments of 1492, found here an institution that shall lead the world in its 
grand career of progress, and proudly endure through all future time. 

And what of Washington, with all his eloquent pleadings and his 
dying bequest, added to achievements in behalf of his country and of 
universal freedom which have made him immortal? The Centennial 
Exposition of 1876 was a worthy commemoration of those heroic be- 
ginnings which led to American independence and the founding of a 
great nation, but it was for the honoring of all alike who had part in the 
grand drama of the Eevolution. Do not the hearts of the American peo- 
ple prompt to some centennial recognition of the supreme services and 
example of him whom the world delights to call the Father of His 
Country? True, on that beautiful swell of ground near the Potomac 
he loved stands a proud shaft of marble whose whiteness symbolizes 
his purity and whose towering summit suggests that stateliness and 
that loftiness of character for which he was so incomparable that he 
has seemed to be unapproachable — a shaft that plainly shows the place 
he holds in the affections of the people, and which also honors the mul- 
titudes out of whose contributions it was erected. 

But is that enough! There was One who said, " If a man ask bread, 
will ye give him a stone?" And yet is not this what we have literally 
done? Twelve times in formal utterance, and times untold in familiar 
speech and silent prayer, he who had rescued his country from the grasp 
of tyranny and laid for it the deep foundations on which this great Re- 
public was reared asked for a university that should siipplyto this peo- 
ple the bread of knowledge, and we have builded for him a monument 
of stone ! Shall we not at last redeem ourselves from his just reproach 
and the reproach of succeeding generations by such granting of his re- 
quest as shall fittingly atone for the neglect of a hundred years? 

Finally, there is a reason broader and more far-reaching than all of 
these, one in which a genuine patriotism mingles with a i)ure philan- 
thropy in equal measure. During the past several years the American 
people have celebrated many great and stirring events in American 
history. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 117 

It is Avell. Such celebrations serve at once to keep in remembrance tlia 
heroic deeds of a noble ancestry, and to deepen in the hearts of the 
l^eople their love of country and their appreciation of free institutions; 
but they will have failed of their liij^hest u-se after all if they do not 
arouse in us a like zeal in the interest of country and human kind. We 
need not wait for occasions precisely theirs. The opportunity is ever 
present. It is not by glorying in the deeds of our sires, but by great 
and honorable deeds of our own that we are to stand ai)proved. We 
nuist continue to rear upon the foundations they laid such superstruc- 
tures as will make at once for the further i^rosperity and security of 
our country and for the peace and progress of the world. Having fitly 
celebrated the past, shall we not now face about and begin anew the 
great work of the coming century? Was it not in this si^irit that were 
formed the many i^atriotic organizations we now see on every hand, 
with their efforts not alone for general progress but also for the perfect 
cementing of all sections of the American Union and for peace and 
concord among the nations? And what better beginning on the intel- 
lectual side of so beneficent and glorious a mission than the founding 
of a great university, comprehensive not only of all present knowledge, 
with competent agencies for its diffusion among men, but also of wisely 
directed efforts for the discovery of new truth as well as for new appli- 
cations of knowledge in the common interest of mankind — an institu- 
tion so supreme, toto ewlo, so consecrated to the highest good of human- 
ity, and so truly a guiding star in the intellectual firmament as to be 
gladly recognized and accepted of all the nations of the world? 



VI. 

THE DEMAND OF THE PRESENT. 

What the friends of education now ask is this : That the Grovernment 
of the United States, after more than a hundred years since the earnest 
appeals and final bequest of Washington, at length extend the needed 
'^fostering hand " to that great enterprise of which he fondly believed he 
had made a worthy beginning; that Congress now begin the establish- 
ment of a true national university in harmony with the general principles 
already set forth by what may be regarded as the highest authorities 
on this subject — 

A university, whose board of regents, representing all sections, shall 
be so chosen and so limited when chosen as not only to insure the jn-o- 
motion of its general interests, but also to avoid the dangers of partisan 
interference, religious or political ; 

Whose provision for internal management shall duly protect the in- 
terests of learning and the rights of all members; 

Whose conditions of admission shall relate to character and com- 
petency only; 

The doors of whose regular courses of study, looking to graduation, 
shall be open to such only as have already received the bachelor's degree 
from recognized institutions ; 

Whose students of every class shall be permitted to utilize the vast facil- 
ities and forces in the many Departments of the Government so far as 
this can be accorded without detriment to the public service; 

Whose system of scholarships shall supply at once a reward of merit 
and a stimulus to the youth of the country in every grade of schools, 
shall hold the schools themselves to proper standards, and insure the 
highest character of the university membership ; 

Whose fellowships shall be open to all the nations and so endowed 
as to fill its places for original work with aspirants of superior genius 
from every quarter of the globe ; 

Whose professoriate, like that of the German universities, shall by 
its system of gradations and promotions supply its professorships and 
lectureships with the best talent and i)roficiency the world can afford ; 

Whose graduates, receiving none but the higher degrees, shall be to 
all the schools, colleges, and universities of the land a means of reen- 
forcement from the highest possible source; 

Whose high faculties of letters, science, and philosophy shall be the 
center of a grand constellation of ranking schools for all the professions 
save theology, with surrounding of such independent religious institu- 
tions as the hundreds of denominations may choose to set up; 
1X8 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 119 

Whose begmniiigs shall be with such means as betit the great under- 
taking, and whose iinal aggregation of endowments by Government, 
States, organizations, and philanthropists, shall fidly comport with the 
demands of learning, with the aspirations of a great people of surpass- 
ing genius as well as material resources, and with the incalculable in- 
terest of other peoples in those free institutions which, being ours by 
inheritance, it is our solemn duty to perfect aud illustrate for the best 
good of universal man. 

According to the iilan of endowment once proposed — that of issuing 
a registered certiticate unassignable and bearing interest at a fixed 
rate in perpetuity — there need be no considerable draft upon the pres- 
ent money resources of the Government. It is now paying out more 
than three millions for the support and development of its invaluable 
scientific bureaus, libraries, and museums. Let it now add a million 
more to this sum for the support of an institution equal to the task 
of further, and as completely as possible, utilizing the vast collections 
aud forces already here, aud it will render an incalcuable service to the 
cause of learning', the country, and the world. 

As it was the university of Paris that brought new prosperity aud 
distinction to France, and the university of Berlin that helped im- 
mensely to build up the little Kingdom of Prussia into the majestic 
Empire of Germany, thus creating two intellectual centers whose 
achievements are the envy of the world, so will the National University 
of America, if thus established and endowed, iiowerfully contribute to 
j)lace the United States in the forefront of the nations. 



VII. 

THE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS. 

First, tliey Avho are in power must give the matter its full measure 
of consideration. Absorbed in other matters, pressed by measures oi 
finance, commerce, lands, industrial development, and much else, even 
the most intelligent and large-minded of men are in danger of over- 
looking a measure, however important, comprehensive, and far-reach- 
ing, that is neither vital to i^arty success nor boldly insists on being 
heard. 

Secondly, while it may be assumed that such of our statesmen as 
already appreciate the importance of the enterprise, seeing clearly how 
it would promote the national welfare and advance the cause of learn- 
ing in the world, are equal to the responsibility of taking it ux3 and 
carrying it forward to a successful issue on the high ground of duty 
alone, it is but right as well as desirable that they be duly reenforced 
by the enlightened sentiment of the country. And they certainly will be. 
Educators at the head of our schools, academies, colleges, and uni- 
versities, with the multitude of their friends, none of whom can fail to 
see the incalculable value of a crowning institution like the one pro- 
l)0sed, will naturally join hands for its early realization when they dis- 
cover an earnest purj)ose in Congress. 

Last, but not least, the press of the United States, so liberal and ever 
on the alert for new measures of progress, can be safely counted on to 
more fully interest the general i)ublic in a proposition so often urged 
by the Father of his Country, so repeatedly indorsed by other of our 
statesmen in all iDcriods of the national history, and so clearly a condi- 
tion of the highest dignity and welfare of the E-epublic. 

Such opposition as may manifest itself in any form will disappear on 
a nearer, more scrutinizing, and broader view. 

The old and once popular objection to government institutions on the 
ground of " political" interference, has long ceased to be valid as against 
Congressionally-endowed State institutions, many of which are now 
among the most important in the laud, and is sufficiently met by the 
adoption of such provisions as are embodied in charters wisely drawn in 
the sole interest of learning — charters under which there is seldom occa- 
sion for submitting to the legislature such questions as could be made 
to assume a partisan form, which leave the internal affairs of such an 
institution almost entirely in the hands of its i^rofessional members, 
themselves governed by university laws which give both security and 
efficiency to the entire service. 
120 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 121 

Ko institutions in tlie land are better managed or have larger immu- 
nity from partisan interferen(;e than our State universities, and none 
are more prosperous. Indeed one of these, the University of Mi<;hi- 
gan, is in point of numbers the strongest institution in America, hav- 
ing in all its numerous departments nearly three thousand students. 
And not only in point of numbers does it hold high ground. For 
the character of its many departments, the number and ability of its 
professors, its standard of scholarship, and skill of general management, 
it stands in the front rank. Peace reigns within its borders, the whole 
people regard it with pride, and the legislature accords to it a cheerful 
and generous support. In one respect, that of exerting a guiding and 
elevating influence upon all the lower schools of the State, in a manner 
similar to that proposed for the national university, it has long been 
foremost; affording a most useful example to all other State universi- 
ties. 

The extraordinary career of the Smithsonian Institution, always free 
from even the slightest taint of " politics," and already become the most 
important institution of its kind in the world, affords yet another total 
refutation of this ancient theory that no interest, of however exalted a 
nature, may come to be sacred in the eyes of political ambition. 

In fact, with the growing respect for science and learning, and the 
consequent spirit of an honorable rivalry among the higher institutions 
of the country, especially those of them annually reporting to the Gov- 
ernment, there has come an almost total emancipation from the once 
potent influence of political partisanship. The -supreme interest in- 
volved has so tar determined both legislative and executive action in 
the several States that scrupulous care is coming to be taken every- 
where to balance the control of all such public institutions so evenly 
as to leave no room for the jealous scheming of parties. 

Time has also settled another question. The old argument against a 
national university, based on the centralization theory, has long ])er- 
ished from the earth. It was early shown to be unphilosophical, and 
time has added countless illustrations of its falsity. The error was in 
making no radical distinction between a centralization of political 
power, which always demands vigilance lest it advance to the point of 
endangering the liberties of the people, and centralization of educa- 
tional opportunities, which is not only absolutely necessary to the 
highest results in the interest of learning, but is itself the best safe- 
guard against the encroachments of political ambition by furnishing to 
thousands of local centers trained thinkers who are also, in the very 
process of training, imbued with the spirit of liberty and independence. 
Every intelligent citizen now knows that, while political centralization 
is like a congestion, fatal if carried to a certain limit, educational cen- 
tralization is, on the other hand, like the concentration of the vital 
fluid in the heart— a prerequisite to that diffusion of knowledge which 
insures health and security to every part of the body politic. 



122 A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 

Opposition based on local ambitions will also disappear when a jnst 
view is taken of the relation that is normally sustained by a central 
and national post-graduate university to all other institutions; when it 
is once seen how potential for the good of all Avould be that central co- 
ordinating and uplifting force to which allusion has been made; how 
powerfully the national university would inspire every faculty of in- 
struction and every ambitious institution of learning in the land; how, 
with open doors for those worthy to enter them, it would in turn prove 
a great training school for such as might desire chairs in the nearly five 
hundred colleges and universities of the country; how by its exalted 
service and by the supreme dignity through it and for its sake accorded 
to science and learning it would reflect new honor upon all institutions 
of learning wheresoever found. 

It is a source of high gratification that this view is ah^eady shared 
by the great body of educators in the United States, as must have ap- 
peared fi'om the foregoing summary, and especially gratifying that 
almost without exception the i^residents of great and growing uni- 
versities, ISTorth, South, East, and West, have warmly declared their 
sympathy with the national university movement. 

There has Jiot been named in all the past, nor can there be named in 
any future, one argument against the national university proposition 
of George Washington that will bear the scrutiny of philosophy or the 
test of history. 



VIIT. 

CONCLUSION. 

This present labor may now be concluded. It has been shown — 

That the otiices of a true university, although of the most important 
character, are not all of them now duly fulfilled in this country; 

That these offices could be best fulfilled by a great national univer- 
sity, and that such university would be most conveniently, suitably, and 
advantageously established and maintained at the seat of the IsTational 
Government; where the chief elements of a university exist already, 
needing but their organization, suitable halls for instructional pur- 
poses, and means for the support of a large and superior working force; 

That certain functions, vital in their character, that would be per- 
formed by a national institution, to wit, the completement of an Ameri- 
can system of public education, the coordination and highest develop- 
ment of tlie schools of the States, and the most effectual cultivation of 
the patriotic sentiment in the minds of those certain to be i)otential in 
the direction of our national aifairs, can be performed hy none other than 
a truly National University ; 

That this conception, originating in the mind of General Washington 
during the stormy days of the Kevolution, and cherished by him through 
life with a fondness and constancy only matched by his love of country, 
has also engaged the thoughts of many other statesmen, as well of 
leading citizens in every walk of life; that Congressional committees 
have favorably considered it, and that national organizations founded 
in the interest of learning and of human progress have made earnest 
appeals for its realization; 

That the need of a central American university, thus recognized and 
thus urged, not only remains, notwithstanding the development of ex- 
isting institutions, but for important national reasons increases with 
the years; 

That such institution could be established and endowed without 
heavy drafts upon the National Treasury; and 

That this present is in all respects a favorable time for the final ful- 
fillment of a solemn duty so long delayed. 

It can not be doubted that a nation of such vast resources in every 
realm, of such superior intelligence, and of such aspirations and aims, 
has already come to realize what is due in this high regard; due to its 
own members craving the opportunities such a university would ofier, 
due to the sacred cause of learning, due to the honor and welfare of a 
Kepublic- rightfully ambitious to lead all the nations in the grand march 
of civilization. 

O 123 



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